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A MEMOIR 



RICHARD WILLIAMS, 

CATECHIST TO THE PATAGONIAN MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



By JAMES HAMILTOJST, D. D, 



PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 



200 MULBERRT-STKEET. 
1855. 






Gift 
Judge and Mrs.Jsaac R. HItt 
JOly3.l933 



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Though the subject of this thrilling sketch 
was a Wesleyan Methodist^ the narrative 
is from the pen of Rev. Dr. Hamilton, of 
the Presbyterian Church, London, whose 
numerous and eloquent works have extend- 
ed his reputation throughout the range of 
our language. Dr. Hamilton remarks in 
his preface, that " had the engagements 
of the Rev. William Arthur [a Wesleyan] 
allowed him to undertake the compilation 
of the following memoir, the public would 
have received from his hand a missionary 
biography as instructive, if not as excit- 
ing, as The Successful Merchant. But 



PREFACE. 



when Mr. Arthur felt constrained to de- 
cline the task, the present editor ventured 
to attempt it, in the belief that, under the 
most ordinary treatment, the materials 
placed at his disposal could scarcely fail 
to be useful. The circumstance that Mr. 
Williams belonged to a branch of the 
evangelical Church entirely distinct from 
his biographer's denomination, has not 
been felt as any embarrassment in the 
progress of the work. A man does not 
repudiate his birthplace when he receives 
the ^freedom' of other cities; and the 
second home which the author has found 
in many a Christian community, has not 
lessened his affection to his own Mount 
Zion. On the other hand, literary trus- 
teeship is surely consistent with ecclesias- 
tical integrity ; and that writer must be 
very distrustful of his own sense, or his 



PREFACE. 6 

own honesty, who is afraid that the one 
will interfere with the other." 

This book is considered worthy of 
permanent republication, not because of 
any historical importance in the Pata- 
gonian missionary experiment — that at- 
tempt is not indeed without its lessons, 
and Dr. Hamilton has briefly yet dis- 
tinctly stated them in his last chapter — 
but the value of the volume is in its re- 
markable and, we will venture to say, 
sublime exhibition of Christian character. 
It may be affirmed hterally that the whole 
records of modern missions afford no 
parallel example of either suffering or 
heroism. In a land of tempests and deso- 
lation — a howling wilderness — surrounded 
with perils from cannibal savages, the 
most relentless known on the globe, — 
wrecked, diseased, starving, and defeated 



PREFACE. 



at every point — the faith of these de- 
voted men triumphed over all^ and Tierra 
del Fuego was to them what the land of 
Beulah was to Bunyan's Pilgrim. The 
lessons of personal rehgion which their 
brief history affords render the book in- 
valuable. They are well worth indeed 
the defeat of the mission, and it is quite 
probable that the providential good which 
shall thus arise from that apparent dis- 
aster will be greater than would have re- 
sulted from the mission itself, had it been 
attended with the ordinary success. 



€ontnU. 



PAUB 

BAELY DAYS 9 

THE BEGmNTNTG OF BETTER DAYS 16 

OHEISTIAN EXPEEIENOE Al^TD TJSEFIILNESS .... 38 

THE MISSION 55 

THE VOYAGE 63 

FTJEGIA 106 

FIEST TOILS 129 

NEW TEIALS. 162 

SI0E2TE8S AND FAMINE 211 

OONOLTTSION 263 



MEMOIR 



EICHARD WILLIAMS. 



The Sabbath was too often spent in the study of Tirgil and Horace. 
But the later hours of his evenings, which -were not dedicated to 
amusement, seem to have been laudably employed in storing his 
mind with classical and general knowledge. — Memoirs of Dr. Clwur- 
d/iiLS Buchanam. 

KiCHARD Williams was the second son of Mr. 
Kice Williams, of Durslej, Gloucestershire, 
and was born there on the 15th of May, 1815. 
From the first he evinced great tenderness 
of feeling ; and very early he exhibited that 
ardent and affectionate disposition which dis- 
tinguished him through life. But as he grew 
from infancy to boyhood, there were frequent 
outbreaks of a passionate temper, and his 
strong detennination amounted to obstinacy. 
He gave no indication of piety ; but in the 
transparency and truthfulness of his charac- 
ter might be perceived the germ of future ex- 



10 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

cellence. For if little can be hoped from a 
childhood where deceit is the constitutional 
sin, it is seldom that the boy attains to 
nothing noble, who, like Washington, '' cannot 
tell a lie/' 

Kichard's first school was in Yorkshire ; but 
he was soon brought back to Dursley, and 
placed under the care of the Kev. John Glan- 
ville, now the much-esteemed minister of 
Kingsland Tabernacle, near Bristol. Mr. 
Glanville says : " I watched him closely, in- 
asmuch as I thought I saw something in him 
which seemed to distinguish him from the 
mass of common boyhood. This induced me 
to give special attention to him, and, as far as 
I was able, to bring out and direct his pow- 
ers. There was a character about him, even 
then, which indicated good in the future. 
He had mind,- — not very well bal- 
anced, nor always easily controlled, but inquir- 
ing, earnest, persevering, and determined to 
improve. He was diligent and painstaking 
in whatever engaged his attention or suited 
his tastes. His quickness and thoughtfulness 
showed that he had abilities, which only re- 
quired to be guided into a proper channel, to 
make him a useful man. He was intended 
and educated for secular employ, and he had 
an encouraging prospect before him, and 



EARLY DAYS. it 

many facilities for obtaining worldly prosper- 
ity. But he soon manifested a distaste for 
business ; it was too monotonous and mechan- 
ical ; he wanted something more exciting and 
intellectual. I was called upon to use my in- 
fluence with him for the purpose of urging 
him to throw his energies more fully into the 
duties of his trade. This I did, both by writ- 
ing and speaking ; but it was of no use : he 
would be a doctor, and not a plane-manufac- 
turer. All the money he could procure, and all 
the hours he could spare, were given to studies 
bearing on the medical profession. At length 
he resolved to leave business, and sacrifice the 
solid gain for what appeared to his friends 
the doubtful success of a professional course ; 
and, in directing his attention to surgery, he 
had to encounter many difficulties, and to work 
against all sorts of disadvantage." 

We have always regarded it as the heroic in- 
cident in the history of the lamented Dr. Hope, 
of London, that, with a strong repugnance to 
medical studies, but in deference to a father^s 
wishes, he not only selected medicine as his 
pursuit, but prosecuted it so vigorously as to 
distance all his coevals. Gladly would we 
have recorded the converse achievement in 
the outset of our own hero's career ; for we 
know not any finer feature of character than 



12 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

an intense dutifulness, nor any sublimer in- 
cident than tlie self-sacrifice to which dutiful 
feeling has prompted. At such noble acts of 
self-conquest we shall not arrive till somewhat 
later in this narrative ; and meanwhile we 
must describe the subject of our biography as 
he was, and which is much the same as other 
ardent and impulsive young men have been. 

An uncle in Westminster had acquired a 
reputation in making carpenters' planes, and 
his thriving business he bequeathed to his 
nephew, on condition that the profits of the 
first ten years should be shared with his sis- 
ters. It was a kind arrangement, and gave 
the young man a good opportunity to make 
his own fortune, and to provide for his fa- 
ther's family. But he had other aspirations. 
His older brother voyaged betwixt England 
and India as the surgeon of the Walmer Cas- 
tle and the Owen Glendower; and Eichard, 
too, must needs be a surgeon. In his medi- 
cal mania it is likely that he was haunted 
by the brilliant precedent of the Hunters, and, 
with youthful enthusiasm, he would recall the 
example of the young journeyman who quitted 
the carpenter's bench to become the prince of 
anatomists, and the collector of a world-famed 
museum. But Eheece and Eichard Williams 
were not destined to repeat the romance of 



EABLY DAYS. 18 

William Hunter and his brother John. Kheece 
died at Madras, a generous and noble-hearted 
young man; and for Kichard, God had pro- 
vided some better thing than scientific repu- 
tation. 

This professional bias was aided by a strong 
turn for letters. Our friend delighted in read- 
ing books, and sometimes dreamed of making 
them. And in a learned pursuit he doubtless 
reckoned on a large amount of literary leis- 
ure. This is frequently a mistake. A clergy- 
man without a congregation, a barrister with- 
out briefs, and a physician without patients, 
have abundance of leisure ; but, in that case, 
there is great danger of their ceasing to be 
literary. On the other hand, a minister who 
enters heartily into his work, a lawyer or a 
doctor who prospers in his practice, has as lit- 
tle time to spare for his own special likings 
as a manufacturer or a merchant ; and, when 
the dayly demand on his energies is answered, 
we question if he will retain an equal amount 
of zest and spirit. In other words, should 
any of our readers be employed in making 
planes, or in selling or using them, and should 
they at the same time be sighing after bet- 
ter opportunity to read great authors, we 
know not any road more royal than their 
present calling. Most likely even now it al- 



14 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

lows them an hour or two for mental improve- 
ment or intellectual relaxation ; and, if they 
are diligent in their business, there is no more 
legitimate way of employing their savings 
than in purchasing installments of leisure for 
their favorite pursuits. 

By great exertions, Mr. Williams accom- 
plished a medical curriculum. He studied at 
University College, London, and at the London 
Hospital ; and having been initiated in the 
practical details of his profession by a cousin 
in Oxfordshire, he was able to pass his exam- 
ination in May, 1841, when twenty-six years 
of age. For some time he acted as assistant 
to various medical gentlemen at Norwich and 
elsewhere ; and, eventually, his brother-in-law 
and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Hill, being resident 
in Burslem, Staffordshire, sent him an invita- 
tion to come and settle beside them. That 
invitation he accepted ; and, by the success 
with which his first cases were treated, he 
soon attracted notice, and became a popular 
practitioner, with extensive employment. For, 
with an irreproachable character, passionately 
addicted to the noble science which was now 
his calling, carrying a prepossession in his 
pleasant countenance and gentle manners, 
prompt, punctual, and affectionately interested 
in his patients, and, in a profession humane 



EARLY DAYS. 15 

and generous beyond all others, distinguished 
by his. liberality and disinterestedness, it is 
not wonderful that he soon became a favorite, 
and saw opening before him a field of abund- 
ant occupation. 

During all this interval, however, there 
was no religion in his virtue. Warm-hearted 
and manly, he was not devout ; and, amid all 
his solicitude for the bodily health of his neigh- 
bors, the salvation of their souls or of his own 
had never cost him a thought. With an 
ardent and enthusiastic temperament, he had 
no love for his heavenly Friend, and no sym- 
pathy with that philanthropy which seeks the 
eternal welfare of its objects. 

One Lord's day, a friend returning from 
public worship called on him, and found him 
in his surgery reading a newspaper. His 
friend asked him if this were a right employ- 
ment of God's day. There was something of 
rebuke in the reply: ** Were my mind, like 
yours, satisfied that Christianity is true, I 
would embrace it with all my soul, and I 
would live accordingly.'' His visitor felt that 
he was sincere, and could only regret that, to 
a nature so energetic, and, in^many respects, 
so ingenuous, the gospel was nothing more 
than a cunning fable or a cabalistic formula. 



16 MEMOIR OF EICHAKD WILLIAMS. 



"When the Lord Jesus first revealed himself to me, he did not reason 
■with me about truth and error; but he attacked me like a warrior, 
and felled me to the ground hj the power of his arm,— Vcmder 
Kerrvp. 

The most eventful date in a human history is 
the commencement of its heavenward career ; 
and, provided it is really to the Better Coun- 
try that the pilgrim is traveling, it is imma- 
terial whether hope or fear had the greatest 
influence on his outset. "Wherever it begins, 
every conversion ends in Christ. Some, like 
Matthew Henry and Henry Martyn, may have 
made the transition, they scarce know how ; 
but all agree to approve of God's way of sav- 
ing sinners by Jesus Christ alone ; all desire 
to advance the glory of God their Saviour; all 
regard Christ's yoke as easy, and his burden 
as light ; all combine to mourn for sin with 
deep and godly sorrow ; all arrive, sooner or 
later, at a good hope through grace concern- 
ing their own personal salvation ; all pro- 
foundly revere the statutes and ordinances of 
their Lord ; all desire to spread the savor of 
his name ; all long and pray for the day when 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 17 

they shall be perfect in holiness, even as their 
Father who is in heaven is perfect/^'--' 

No contrast can be greater than between a 
Christianity thus practical, and the ordinary 
course of the world. Such a contrast was now 
about to be exhibited in the character of Mr. 
Williams ; and, from a paper in his own hand- 
writing, we are apprised of the circumstances 
in which it originated. These are so peculiar, 
that some may think it would have been wise 
to suppress them. But on the principle of 
allowing the subject of this memoir to be, as 
much as possible, his own biographer, we could 
not ignore facts which he has detailed so fully. 
They have their own significance. They har- 
monize with the eag^r temperament and lively 
imagination of the writer. They are not 
without their import as a contribution to 
spiritual pathology. JSTor should the value of 
the result be affected by the anomalies of the 
process. The last three books of The Course 
of Time were written in the inspiration of a 
hectic fever, and Kubla Khan was composed 
in a dream ; but they are fine poems, notwith- 
standing. And, even allowing that a good 
deal of the morbid and visionary may have 
mingled with higher processes at this juncture 

-Lights and Shadows of the Life of Faith. By the 
Rev. W. K. Tweedie, Edinburgh. 

2 



18 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

of Mr. Williams's history, the result was a 
sober and healthful reality. That result was, 
a disposition so devout and benevolent, a life 
so holy, a spirit so self-sacrificing, that, what- 
ever circumstances may have attended its 
commencement, every Christian will feel that 
God himself was its author. 

Mr. Williams's mind was marked by a 
certain fervid exuberance. However charm- 
ing in personal intercourse, with a fluent pen 
this fullness of emotion is apt to produce re- 
dundant writing. For the sake of our read- 
ers, we shall, therefore, take the freedom of 
shortening the paragraphs, and omitting ex- 
pletive words and unimportant sentences. 
Were we editing a British classic, we should 
not venture on such retrenchments ; but in 
the present case, we feel that our responsi- 
bility is for the author's sentiments and state- 
ments of fact, and that condensation is not a 
license, but a duty. With this preliminary 
remark, we proceed to give Mr. Williams's 
narrative of the singular illness which issued 
in his conversion. 

" I bless God that ever I was afilicted. 
Not only do I date my conversion from my 
illness, but I believe that this illness was de- 
signed for my conversion. It was a seizure 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 19 

more remarkable than any of which I remem- 
ber to have heard or read ; and, apart from 
the inward working of the mind, it presented 
a series of extraordinary symptoms, which 
seem to defy solution. Myself a medical man, 
and for many years accustomed to witness 
disease in every form, I have been able to ex- 
plain, to some extent at least, almost every 
case ; but for the cause of my own illness, and 
for the explanation of its strange symptoms, 
my knowledge and means of judging fall far 
short. But whether mere natural causes oc- 
casioned all the bodily sensations or not, 
scarcely signijSes : the mental changes, I am 
fully assured, were altogether the work of 
God. 

" At the very outset, I should acknowledge 
that I had no previous belief in the truth of 
Christianity. I viewed it sometimes in one 
light, sometimes in another. I regarded it, 
for the most part, as an absurdity. At its 
many votaries I wondered, and their under- 
standings I looked down upon ^s strangely 
deluded. I could not comprehend how a God 
should die, nor even bring my mind to admit 
that an atonement was necessary. The works 
of infidels, however, I always read with dis- 
satisfaction or disgust ; and any scurrilous at- 
tack on the faith of others I should have been 



20 MEMOIR OE RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

ready to oppose. But into the truth* of the 
matter I never thought of inquiring ; and, as 
far as my perusal of it went, the Bible was a 
mere lumber-book. Science, literature, and 
my profession, were my whole delight; but 
the truth or falsehood of Christianity I felt it 
no part of my business to examine. 

" Of natural religion I had something in 
my heart. Many a time have I lifted my 
eyes from nature up to nature's God, and 
have adored his excellency as revealed in his 
beautiful and magnificent works. I knew 
myself to be a creature sprung from God ; 
but I never dreamed that I was a creature ac- 
cursed before him. I knew God to be in- 
finitely just; but I never feared that that 
justice would consign me to eternal misery. 
I knew that I oftentimes acted contrary to my 
conscience ; but I believed that intellectual 
enlightenment and the mere force of reason- 
ing could carry human nature to perfection, 
and place it far above the control of passion. 
I deified human nature as capable of trans- 
cendent virtue, and absolutely denied its in- 
nate corruption. I hoped that the soul was 
immortal, but could never feel convinced that 
it was so; but as to everlasting torments, I 
viewed the doctrine as sacrilege and a defama- 
tion of the justice of God. The existence of 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 21 

a devil I believed no more than any other 
bugbear. 

^' The only instances when confidence in my 
own opinions has been altogether shaken, were, 
I well remember, moments when, without an 
assignable reason, I have awakened from sleep, 
and an indescribable awe and terror have seized 
on my soul^ filling it with undefined apprehen- 
sions of the future.'^' 

^ To such lucid moments does Jane Taylor refer, in lines 
not the less poetical because of their simple truthfulness : — 

*'And yet, amid the huiry, toil, and strife, 

The claims, the urgencies, the whirl of life, — 

The soul — perhaps in silence of the night — 

Has flashes, transient intervals of light ; 

When things to come, without a shade of doubt, 

In terrible reality stand out. 

Those lucid moments suddenly present 

A glance of truth, as though the heavens were rent ; 

And through that chasm of pure celestial light, 

The future breaks upon the startled sight ; 

Life's vain pursuits, and Time's advancing pace, 

Appear with death-bed clearness, face to face ; 

And Immortality's expanse sublime, 

In just proportion to the speck of time : 

While Death, uprising from the silent shades, 

Shows his dark outline ere the vision fades ; 

In strong relief against the blazing sky 

Appears the shadow as it passes by. 

And though o'erwhelming to the dazzled brain, 

These are the moments when the mind is sane ; 

For then, a hope in heaven — the Saviour's cross. 

Seem what they are, and all things else but dross." 

Essays in Rhyme, 



22 MEMOIR OF EICHARB WILLIAMS. 

" Such is a slight picture of my state of 
mind previous to my illness. Up to the mo- 
ment when it seized me I had been engaged 
in the active duties of my profession. I had 
visited many patients, and during the evening 
had felt fatigued and languid, and anxious 
to seat myself comfortably in my arm-chair. 
A little after ten o'clock I saw the last of 
the persons waiting for me, and instantly I 
felt myself severely unwell. I went up-stairs, 
and threw myself on my bed. In a few min- 
utes I felt inexpressibly ill. The first sensa- 
tion was an amazing weight on the chest, 
with difficulty of respiration ; the carotids of 
my throat striking like hammers on my head, 
and a feeling as though torrents of air were 
rushing into my brain, and the head were it- 
self expanding. The agony became insup- 
portable, and I knocked for some one to come 
to me. Meanwhile my mind acquired a won- 
derful vivacity. Thought upon thought came 
pouring in with a distinctness of apprehension, 
enlargement of view, and faithfulness of 
memory, such as I never before experienced. 
A power to comprehend my personal identity, 
and to understand my relation to time and 
eternity, was wonderfully given me. The 
passing moment seemed without beginning or 
end. I felt as though immortal faculties, 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 23 

immortal relations, were beginning to be 
recognized. The thought began to stagger 
me, that the hand of death was grasping the 
cords of life. With the thought, darkness- 
thick, palpable darkness — gathered on my 
soul. A mountain load seemed to crush my 
breast. It was girt as with bands of iron. 
My heart felt too big for its wonted space. 
A horror of anguish filled my whole being. 
Unnumbered sins sprang up before my as- 
tonished conscience, and Death in his terror 
rose up to my gaze. Look where I would, 
there was no hope. One wide, unbounded 
ocean of dismay and terror, lashed with tem- 
pestuous bowlings, roared on every side ; and 
the thought of an ofiended God pierced my 
soul with madness and despair. 

" In this state I lay for hours. Meanwhile 
my sister, alarmed by my knocking, had come 
and found me speechless. Others of my friends 
were sent for, then medical attendance. Ee- 
course was had to remedial measures; but I 
still grew worse. The night passed, and the 
morning found me the same. A painfully 
vivid consciousness of everything going on 
around me added greatly to my distress. 
The first faint glimmer of light that broke 
into my soul was when the name of Jesus 
was uttered. With the very thought of that 



24 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

name the hope of mercy was allied, and like 
a drowning man I clung to that hope. In the 
agony of my soul I called upon that name; 
and in the mean while, finding that one of 
God's servants (Mr. M., senior) had entered 
the room, I felt a new hope, as if the very 
presence of a man of God was a source of 
safety. He hade me look to Jesus. With the 
very bidding, I felt an infinite joy in so doing. 
Faith in that holy name rapidly gained the 
ascendant. My darkness was turned into 
light, and in a short time I felt a sweet sense 
of the pardoning mercy of God. After this 
I grew better and better ; and all my symp- 
toms remitted, till I felt nothing except the 
languor resulting from the violence of my 
previous sufferings. 

" Toward the evening, however, a relapse 
took place, with phenomena essentially difier- 
ent. Beginning with the same contraction of 
the chest as before, there followed tetanic 
spasms — a violent jerking of the upper part 
of the body from side to side, interrupted 
by quiet intervals, sometimes by a complete 
rigidity of the neck and spine. So sensitive 
was I to touch, or to the impression of a breath 
of air, that the approach of any one evincing 
an intention to disturb me would throw me 
into convulsions; and, suspecting tetanus or 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 25 

hydrophobia, the three medical attendants 
inquired whether I had been bitten by a dog, 
or had sustained any mechanical injury. 
Vith. short intermissions, this state of things 
lasted for successive days, till my strength 
was nearly exhausted. Toward the close of 
the fourth day, and during the succeeding 
night, my eyes were upturned in their sockets ; 
I retained not the slightest power of voluntary 
breathing ; I was incapable of speech ; and 
the attempt to swallow a drop of water brought 
on spasms which threatened suffocation. 

'' During all this period I was possessed of 
perfect consciousness ; nor had I any pain. 
The only painful sensation was the impossi- 
bility of resisting the convulsive movements 
of my body, and the fearful constriction of 
my chest. At first I was, as it were, a mere 
spectator and observer of the symptoms — 
thinking, and even reasoning upon them ; 
and when abstracted from their consideration, 
I felt that I could calmly meditate on God's 
mercies. I had no painful conflicts about my 
state, but a settled serenity — a tranquillity for 
which I could scarcely account, unless from 
the conviction that my salvation was sure. 
But, during the last night of this stage, I ex- 
perienced wonderful evidence of a world to 
come. My friends were assembled at various 



26 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

distances around my bed. The curtains were 
drawn, and a candle yielded its obscure rays. 
I heard the sobbings of my relations. I 
knew that they looked on my life as fast 
fleeting. I was myself convinced that I 
should not recover. I had pictured my body 
carried to the grave, and had marked in my 
mind's eye all the attendant circumstances. 
Mentally I had taken leave of earth, and I 
lay in perfect peace, assured of my salvation. 
A dead silence now reigned around ; and as 
I waited the moment of my final change, it 
was an intense and deeply-absorbing thought 
that soon the great scene would be revealed. 
While lying thus, I thought I heard a gentle 
knocking. My soul started in expectation. 
Inwardly I exclaimed, ^ I come. Lord Jesus !' 
Eelapsing into quietude, I felt all but dis- 
missed. It had the effect of so far arousing 
me that I got power to speak, and called to 
my kindred, who came around me in surprise 
and anticipation. I took leave of them. I 
told one to be watchful, and spoke to the 
others till power of speech again forsook me. 
As I lay, I drew my hand to my breast, to 
examine it« beatings. I felt they were small 
and weak, and I was content, for I should soon 
be in another world* I was even anxious to 
die ; for I feared lest, living again, I might 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 27 

lose what now seemed so sure. Then it was 
that a new order of feelings came over me. 
I had the most extraordinary sense of the 
bodily presence of the Power of Darkness 
standing by the side of my bed; not that I 
imagined that I saw anything, but I felt as 
if I could have put my hand on the very spot 
where he stood, and I shrank from that side 
with horror and loathing. But, blessed be 
God ! on the opposite side stood, equally re- 
vealed to my spiritual senses, the Power unto 
Salvation, the very embodiment of love ; and to 
this I turned as to a refuge. I shrank from 
the Evil One, and poured out my prayers to 
Christ, whose protection was evident to me. 
Thus I lay, when, all of a sudden, the most 
brilliant light darted into the room, and filled 
me with astonishment. Now, I thought, the 
time is surely at hand. God is visibly mak- 
ing manifest his approach. Quickly will the 
angels of God be descending, and I shall be- 
hold my Eedeemer. By the vigor thus im- 
parted I was enabled to sit up in bed ; and 
with a feeling like that which Lazarus might 
have experienced, conscious of a supernatural 
Presence, I called out to my friends, ^ Did you 
not see the light?' Next minute the impression 
came over me that I was yet to live ; and at 
the same time, inspired with the certainty of 



28 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

knowing what I ought to take, I told my as- 
sistant to bring me forty drops of the tincture 
of opium, and twenty drops of the rauriated 
tincture of iron, and to repeat the dose everj 
twenty minutes. After taking the first dose, 
I continued sitting in bed, feeling as though 
entranced; and, what is singular, my arms, 
when extended at an early part of the even- 
ing, had remained so, evincing the cataleptic 
state. I took the second dose, and lay down. 
These doses, so large that my assistant after- 
ward wondered what could have possessed him 
to give them, were the means of my recovery. 
After a miserable interval, during which the 
body seemed to be sinking into corruption, 
and the mind itself seemed to have lost all 
power of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, a pro- 
found sleep closed my eyes. It lasted upward 
of twelve hours ; and, awaking as from a 
dream, there remained no trace of my former 
state, except extreme debility. I never had 
the slightest relapse, but made rapid progress 
in recovery.^' 

An interesting volume was lately published, 
in which a Christian scholar recalls the work- 
ings of his mind during a long period of de- 
rangement f^ and we believe that both science 

"^ Autobiography of the Rev. WiUiam Walford. Edited 
by the Rev. J. Stoughton. 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 29 

and religion are eventually served by accurate 
statements of cases in which moral and phys- 
ical phenomena mingle. We are too ignorant 
of pathology to be able to explain all the 
symptoms which Mr. Williams has so vividly 
described ; and it would be very presumptuous 
in us to profess to account for those sensations 
which the patient, himself a medical man, 
modestly acknowledges as beyond the range 
of his own experience or reading. Yet there 
are one or two circumstances of which an or- 
dinary spectator may possibly judge as accu- 
rately as the patient himself, with all his pro- 
fessional training. 

For instance, it was at the close of a laborious 
day, and when excessively fatigued, that Mr. 
Williams was first seized with those singular 
sensations in his head, and with the brilliant 
accompanying ideas. Now, to say nothing of 
any intermediate cause, such as determination 
of blood to the brain, we know that excessive 
application or exhaustion is not unfrequently 
followed by similar odd sensations. Dr. Moore 
mentions Dr. Isaac Watts, who, after great 
exertion of mind, thought his head too large 
to allow him to pass out at the study door ; 
as also the case of a gentleman who, after 
delivering a lecture at the College of Sur- 
geons, said that his head felt as if it filled the 



80 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

room/''' With Mr. Williams, the sensation was 
" as though torrents of air were rushing into 
his brain, and the head itself expanding.'^ Nor 
do we suppose that it is at all uncommon for 
nervous exhaustion to be followed by such 
cataleptic seizures as Mr. Williams experi- 
enced, when his eyes were fixed, and when he 
had lost the power of speech, as well as volun- 
tary respiration.! The '' inspired certainty '^ 

"The Power of the Soul over the Body. By George 
Moore, M. D. Fourth edition, p. 264. 

t To our lay ignorance, the most perplexing complica- 
tion of this illness is the tetanic access which marked 
the second stage. Perhaps some light may be thrown 
on it by the following case detailed by Dr. Joseph Will- 
iams, who describes the patient as suffering from cerebral 
irritation, mixed up with hysteria and violent tetanic 
spasms. " She declared the pain was so great that she 
should go mad. Alarmed at the tetanic symptoms more 
especially, I examined carefully the thumb and fingers, 
to ascertain if these had been injured ; inquired minutely 
if she had lately pricked her finger, or received any 
blow or fall, stating to the friends that I had never seen 
such symptoms but where a nerve had been irritated. Ex- 
amined the mouth ; the teeth perfect, undecayed ; but still 
dissatisfied, I took out my pencil-case and gently struck 
each tooth ; on tapping the second superior molar of the 
affected side, great pain ensued, and on repeating this it 
was increased.^' On removing the tooth it was detected 
that pus was pressing on the pulpy portion of the 
nerve ; and thus incipient mania was cured, and the life 
of the patient was saved.— See Williams on Inscmity, 
p. 260. 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 31 

With which he prescribed for himself the tonic 
opiate need not surprise us. Suggested by 
some constitutional craving, invalids often 
fancy that if they could only obtain a given 
antidote, they would instantly be well: and 
they frequently are right. Sometimes- the 
specific is a strange one, and would not readily 
have occurred to a man of science. In the 
present instance, we presume that science 
would have countersigned the patient's pre- 
scription, had it only known all the circum- 
stances ; but then it must be remembered that 
in the present instance the patient himself 
was a doctor. 

" Intense mental conceptions so strongly 
impressed upon the mind as, for the moment, 
to be believed to have a real existence," are 
among the most frequent spectral illusions."^' 
As coming near this class we must regard that 
*' extraordinary sense of the bodily presence 
of the Power of Darkness standing by the side 
of his bed,'' which filled the imagination of the 
patient toward the close of his illness, as well 
as the brilliant light which followed. To the 
bystanders no light was visible, — no presence 
was palpable. Unlike the voice and the light 
on the road to Damascus, which the spectators 

"See Hibbert on Apparitions. Abercrombie on the 
Intellectual Powers, Part iiL 



32 MEMOIR OF RICHAED WILLIAMS. 

heard and saw, these manifestations were con- 
fined to the individual's own mind. 

Still these ideas were substantially correct. 
Disease might embody them in forms too ma- 
terial ; and yet they were truths. It was true 
that sins unnumbered stood chargeable against 
one who had hitherto lived without God in the 
world. It was true that God was offended, 
and death was coming. It was true that 
boundless dismay and terror environed the 
Christless transgressor. The name of Jesus 
had no more effect in tranquilizing the con- 
science and kindling hope than that blessed 
name should ever have. And the instinct 
which shrank from the Power of Darkness and 
cried to Jesus for protection, was itself a token 
that a new life was dawning. There might 
be nervous excitement, but there was also a 
spiritual awakening. There might be morbid 
sensations ; but the pervading conviction was 
Scriptural, and the consequent change of 
thought and feeling was permanent. That 
change we shall leave Mr. Williams to de- 
scribe : — 
.'^ " It was on the fifteenth day of September, 
1846, that I was taken ill. It is now Septem- 
ber, 1847, when I am writing this. The de- 
lightful feelings of the first few days of con- 
valescence I remember well. Joyfully exult- 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 33 

ing in the interposition of Divine Providence 
and mercy, which had brought me out of thick 
darkness into the glorious light of truth, O 
what a heaven flitted through my soul ! Holi- 
ness with its celestial gilding seemed to tinge 
every object around me. The world was no 
longer the same world ; its people no longer 
the same beings. Myself and my fellows I no 
longer regarded as creatures of a moment's 
duration, but I saw eternity impressed as a 
seal on the whole generation of men. The 
universe was no longer a confused assemblage 
of indistinct parts, moving toward a gloomy 
terminus, but, as far as the divine purposes 
were concerned, a bright whole of uniform 
perfection, and. the entire expanse filled with 
love, unbounded love. God himself seemed 
to move everywhere. All was joy to my soul. 
I looked on myself as a brand plucked from 
the burning, and rejoiced in the sure hope of 
salvation. Jesus was most precious to me — 
my glory and infinite joy. The Bible, hitherto 
a sealed book, was now a river of water to my 
thirsty soul. I was astounded with its con- 
tents. As I turned over its pages, wonder 
upon wonder ravished my delighted heart. I 
felt that I would care to live only for the sake 
of reading it. It was a glorious light. At 
times its heavenly rays would subdue jne into 



34 



MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 



a mellow and peaceful benignity ; at others, 
rouse me into ecstatic bliss. Everywhere was 
the authority, the love, of God recognized. 
Its power to command my obedience was as 
the thunder-clad arm of Omnipotence ; and 
its pleadings for holiness were as the gentle 
whisperings of love, to which my heart, my 
mind, my soul answered assent. How I won- 
dered at my former darkness ! How amazed 
did I feel that the precious light had so long 
shone in my way, and I never had perceived 
it ! I resolved to make it the absolute rule 
of my life. 

^' These first days were as though they had 
been a foretaste of heavenly peace. Never 
shall I forget my first mortification at finding 
that sin still existed within me. There had 
been no actual committal of an offense that my 
conscience charged me with; yet a sudden 
and unexpected change had come over me. 
There was a cloudiness in my mind ; my faith 
was dim ; my heart had ceased to exult. It 
was as though all had been a bright and 
glorious dream, and I had now awakened to 
the stern realities of a cold and miserable 
world. Alas, the bitterness of that moment ! 
I strove to recall my hopes — they seemed de- 
lusion. I read my Bible— the bright reveal- 
ing light which had heretofore almost made 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 35 

tlie very print more clear was gone ; and, 
although I still knew it to be the Word of 
God, the page had ceased to enkindle rapture 
or inspire emotion. I knew not how to ac- 
count for this state. I had believed that the 
work of change and renovation had been com- 
pleted, at least carried to so high a degree that 
it was impossible I could willfully sin against 
God again. I abhorred the thought, yet here 
I was in darkness, and sin palpably abounding 
in my heart. How sad was the sight of my- 
self ! It was the first glimpse at the inherent 
corruption and original depravity of my heart. 
It was the first of a series of painful but im- 
portant lessons which convinced me that God 
had only hitherto instructed me in the first 
principles, and laid the foundation for my 
faith ; but that the work of grace had to be 
carried on, and an absolute change of heart 
effected, by many a severe and fiery ordeal. 

**In the course of weeks I was enabled to 
take a trip into North Wales ; here my con- 
nection with the world was first reestablished. 
All the avocations of man, that were apart 
from his religious duties, appeared to me to 
have vanity legibly stamped on them. On 
my route I stopped a short time in Liverpool, 
but the bustle and commotion excited no pleas- 
urable sympathy ; for I felt that it all was 



36 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

vanity. The whirl, the din, the confusion, all 
told me of the world's spirit; and in the 
countenance of the busy throng I could not 
read one expression in unison with my own 
feelings, or which came home to my heart. 
At Beaumaris I abode at a commercial hotel, 
and there, in the presence of the usual visit- 
ants of an inn, I took out. my Bible, glorying 
in the thought that 1 was thus unfurling 
Christ's banner. One of the company entered 
into conversation, and boasted of his religious 
acquisitions, and of the high position he held 
in the Church to which he belonged as teacher 
and deacon. But gradually he drank to in- 
ebriation. I was glad to find a room to my- 
self, and in dejection to ponder over this first 
instance of a false professor. 

" My stay in North Wales, especially my 
visit to Llanberis and Snowdon, afforded my 
mind the healthful occupation of contemplat- 
ing and adoring God as revealed in his works. 
To me the God of nature and the God of 
revelation now were one, and I began more 
sensibly to feel the relation wherein we stand 
to God by the conjoint link of creation and 
redemption. How glorious to know that a 
pathway had been opened for the rebellious 
sinner to the favor of the great Eternal, 
whose hand had formed the mighty fabric of 



THE BEGINNING OF BETTER DAYS. 37 

the universe, and who had given the being 
and life we enjoy, but from whom I had so 
long been severed, and to whom I had never 
felt my relation, nor acknowledged my obedi- 
ence! But the great Eternal was now the 
Lord my God ; and I, the creature of his hand, 
could, through the Eedeemer, look up and be- 
lieve that the power which guided the planets 
in their course would direct me in all my. 
ways, and preserve me by his providential 
care. I felt that he had first loved me. I 
felt that God so loved the world as to give his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life. I felt that it is the First and the Last 
who there expresses his care for all the family 
of man, including myself, a worm so insignifi- 
cant. At that mercy I could only wonder 
and adore, and, with faint conceptions of his 
love and grace, I could but humble myself 
before him/' 



38 MBMOIE OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 



I fear that much of my backwardness In spiritual mattei*s may be 
imputed to my overlooking so much the work of the Spirit of God in 
the plan of salvation. And O ! how important is his work ! To open 
the eyes, enlighten the understanding, soften the heart, remove preju- 
dices, "shed abroad the love of God abundantly in the heart," to 
"witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God," to "help our 
infirmities," to " seal us unto the day of redemption."-^i?eu J. 3fac- 
donalcl, of Calcutta, 

There is such a thing as a denominational 
zoology. There is a certain temperament, 
there are certain mental tendencies, from 
which, if a man is not content to remain a 
Presbyterian in Scotland or an Episcopalian 
in England, it may be predicted which other 
section of the Christian community he will 
join. The Wesley an body is the great ab- 
sorbent of warm hearts and fervid spirits. In 
the frequency of its devotional meetings, in 
the frankness and unreserve of its Christian 
intercourse, in the vigor of its responses and 
the soaring rapture of its hymns, and in the 
benevolent vivacity which finds a post and an 
employment for every member, it meets many 
cravings of the young and ardent convert. Is 
he crying, in the gladness of his soul, " Sing 



EXPERIENCE AND USEFULNESS. 39 

aloud unto God, our strength : make a joyful 
noise unto the God of Jacob?" Alike in the 
cathedral and the conventicle, he is apt to he 
depressed by an organic solo or a rueful dirge ; 
but escaping to the Methodist meeting, he 
finds their *' glory" all "awake:" they are 
" taking the psalm, and bringing the pleasant 
harp with the psaltery, and blowing up the 
trumpet," and with exulting rivalry, " young 
men and maidens, old men and children," are 
praising the Lord. In the eagerness of first 
love is he exclaiming, " Come and hear, all 
ye that fear God, and I will declare what he 
hath done for my soul ?" But nobody will 
stop to listen ; and so, for an audience he is 
driven away to the love-feast or class-meeting. 
In the exuberance of a newly-awakened zeal, 
would he like an outlet for his energies, a 
field of Christian activity ? In the sanctuary 
which he has hitherto frequented he feels 
himself a cipher. He has never been invited 
to engage in any scheme of usefulness, and, 
except the neat and noiseless sexton who bows 
him into his pew, no one seems to know him. 
But he has not worshiped three Sabbaths 
with the Methodists when he is recognized 
and accosted, and three months have not 
passed before he is installed in the Sunday 
school, or with a bundle of tracts and a roving 



40 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

commission is sent out into the highways and 
hedges. The portrait of the great founder on 
the wall, a box for Wesleyan missions on the 
mantle-shelf, placards of the next anniversary 
in the shop window, the occasional dropping 
in of a brother during the day with friendly 
inquiry as to his health of soul, hearty hand- 
shakings at the evening prayer-meeting, and 
a vesper stanza from the consecrated hymn- 
book, all betoken the activity, the brotherly- 
kindness, and the cheerful piety in the midst 
of which the young Theophilus has found his 
ecclesiastical habitation and his congenial 
home. 

The society which has yielded a logician so 
acute as the younger Treffry, and a system- 
atist so masterly as Richard Watson, to say 
nothing of a scholar so erudite as Adam 
Clarke — such a society cannot be reproached 
with the lack of Biblical or theological learn- 
ing. Nevertheless, the lovers of metaphysical 
divinity and Scriptural exposition will not be 
apt to join a community whose migratory 
ministers and perpetual excitement make it 
a Church upon wheels. Wesleyan Christian- 
ity is emotional and experimental ; it has no 
attraction for severe reasoners and abstract 
speculators ; nor is it adapted to spirits sedate 
or somber. Its ready-made materials are the 



EXPERIENCE AND USEFULNESS. 41 

men of feeling ; the sanguine, the impulsive, 
and enthusiastic natures, whom the grace of 
God makes the best evangelists, and the kind, 
humane, and homely natures whom the same 
grace converts into the salt of our English 
factories, the living epistles of such rural 
neighborhoods as are blessed with their pres- 
ence. And although the predominance of the 
emotional element in Wesleyan membership 
is not without its inconvenience and its perils; 
although it aggravates the task of the gov- 
erning body, and renders periods of internal 
commotion vehement and almost volcanic; 
still, in the normal state of the society, it 
gives a peculiar animation to the services of 
its sanctuaries, and an intensity to its mis- 
sionary zeal, far beyond the proportion of 
most of the other Christian communities ; and 
from what we know of his ardent tempera- 
ment, we cannot wonder that the Wesleyan 
Society was the Church which, after his con- 
version, Mr. Williams joined. 

The last chapter left him on a tour of 
North Wales. A short journey reestablished 
his health, and he returned to Burslem to re- 
ceive a warm welcome from former patients 
and friends. We shall now resume his own 
narrative : — 

''I sought to become connected with the 



42 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

visible Church of Christ. Previous to my ill- 
ness I had for nearly twelve months attended 
divine service at the Wesleyan chapel, owing 
to the esteem I entertained for the abilities 
and eloquence of the ministers then laboring 
in the circuit. But I never looked on myself 
as a Methodist, nor professed to belong to any 
Church. In my early years I had with my 
parents attended the tabernacle of the Inde- 
pendents, and as I grew older I occasionally 
went to the Established Church. When a 
student in London, except when some popular 
clergyman attracted my notice, I generally 
absented myself entirely from public worship. 
In those days I should have, scorned the 
thought as an insult to m.y understanding,- 
had it been suggested that I might some day 
join the Methodist Society. For them, of all 
sects, I had the greatest distaste, and they 
were a by-word and a reproach in my mouth. 
However, from many opportunities of judging 
of one individual among them — the same who 
proved such a friend during my illness — I had 
arrived at a much more elevated opinion of 
Christian integrity and worth than I had ever 
entertained before ; and now gratitude as well 
as high respect bound me to the Wesleyan 
Church through him. Besides, their fervent 
zeal for the cause of God was attractive to 



EXPERIENCE AND USEFULNESS. 43 

my now roused feelings. I desired that every 
creature should rejoice in the glorious tidings 
revealed to myself, and could have wished for 
a trumpet tongue to echo salvation over the 
length and breadth of the earth. 

'* Accordingly, on the 29th of November, 
1846, I presented myself at one of the class- 
meetings, the leader of which was my already 
tried friend, and received a ticket on trial. 
The minister was present that evening, and, 
besides giving expression to that presence of 
God which he enjoyed in his own soul, he ad- 
dressed interrogatories, counsel, admonition, 
and encouragement to each one of us. With 
our veteran leader I was delighted; such was 
the honest truthfulness of all he said, and 
such the evidence he afforded of living in very 
near communion with God in Christ Jesus. 
However, there were feelings in my breast 
which I little expected to find there. That 
pride which depreciates the understanding of 
others and exalts our own, and which so 
abounded in my secret thoughts and actions 
before my conversion, I found sensibly exist- 
ing now. I tried to conquer it, but it was not 
yet overthrown. It was the intrenched for- 
tress of the enemy, from which he could issue 
at any unguarded moment, and lay waste my 
peace of mind. Many have been his triumphs. 



44 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Many a time has he taken me captive at his 
will ; but I feel that I shall be more than 
conqueror through Him that loved me, and 
shall finally sing the glories of Him that giv- 
eth us the victory. 

^*As I became better acquainted with the 
society, I found that its doctrines and organ- 
ization wonderfully coincided with my dayly 
increasing knowledge of the Scriptures, and 
with the teaching which God's Spirit imparted 
to me. I found it was God's will that I should 
be associated with one individual who served 
God in spirit and in truth ; but, alas ! how 
immeasurably distant was the period when I 
could hope to be thus fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord ! Day by day I found fresh evi- 
dence of the depravity of my evil heart. I 
certainly felt an earnest desire after right- 
eousness ; but my religion, I soon perceived, 
was too much characterized by fits and starts, 
too much influenced by circumstances and oc- 
casions. It was too much a religion of emo- 
tions and feelings ; and in the brief space of 
a single day there were intervals of negli- 
gence and apathy, when worldly avocations 
darkened my mind; and when the hour of 
prayer arrived, the burden of my sins bore 
heavily on my heart. 

" The most striking instance of the reveal- 



EXPERIENCE AND USEFULNESS. 45 

ment of myself, in all my spiritual destitu- 
tion, occurred some months after my conver- 
sion. For some time there hafl been a fearful 
conflict going on — desires to do the will of 
God, on the one part, and yet a total inca- 
pacity to make good my intentions. I per- 
ceived an increasing helplessness — a power- 
lessness and inability to maintain a single 
resolution. The family devotions I had insti- 
tuted I felt absolutely inadequate to perform. 
My prayers were without fervency. I could 
scarce find language for the most ordinary 
sentiment, and I was utterly ashamed and 
confounded at myself. The profession of re- 
ligion in such circumstances seemed impossi- 
ble, and I was dispirited at the prospect of 
attending my class, where I could only expose 
the poverty and listlessness of my mind. I 
was ready to despair, and give up the whole. 
The secret of it all was not then known to 
me. I had yet to learn a most important les- 
son, which was, that I had been hitherto 
trusting to my own strength, and had not 
recollected how, without the aid of God's 
Holy Spirit, I could not perform one duty 
aright. 

"For weeks — I may say for months — it 
continued thus. Various temptations came in 
my way, and I felt that T had repeatedly sin- 



46 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

ned against God. My soul became darker 
and darker, and in deep trouble I groaned 
and wept over my sad condition. Doubts as- 
sailed me as to the truth of all ; but these I 
repelled with amazement and horror. There 
was still an inward sincerity of heart in seek- 
ing after God ; and hour after hour, on my 
bended knees, did I seek his help, but without 
any perceptible progress in inward holiness or 
spiritual enlightenment. 

" The climax of this condition was attained 
on a Sunday night. I had spent part of the 
Sabbath carelessly, and my conscience was 
heavily laden with sin. My household had 
retired to rest, and I was left alone. I was 
disposed to folkw their example, but I was not 
prepared to commit myself in prayer to God. 
I felt no inclination for it ; but to go to bed 
without prayer was impossible. I therefore 
sat down and tried to read. However, my 
thoughts would not permit me to go on with 
the book, and I was compelled to desist. I 
was now sitting in what I may term a sullen 
moodiness. There was a heavy weight on my 
heart, and a terrible darkness began to throw 
its shadows around me. I began to be alarm- 
ed at my position ; I was staggered at my 
callousness and insensibility. My convictions 
I retained in full force, but I felt that I was 



EXPERIENCE AND USEFULNESS. 47 

without religion. God seemed at an infinite 
distance. An abyss of darkness intervened 
between him and my soul. The thought that 
I was forsaken by the Spirit of God, and aban- 
doned to a reprobate heart, took possession of 
my mind ; and, looking to the future, I saw 
how different were now my hopes and pros- 
pects. I lay full length on the hearth-rug, in 
absolute despair. At length I tried to pray, 
but my lips refused their office : pray I could 
not. I felt that I had now a real foretaste of 
hell, for I was without God and without hope. 
Hours rolled away, and I loathed myself, and 
abhorred the picture of my own»heart which I 
now beheld. I made renewed efforts at pray- 
er, and determined that, if I could express no 
more, I would repeat the publican^s petition, 
* God be merciful to me, a sinner.^ I did so. 
Though it was the depth of winter, the morn- 
ing's light broke in while I was still engaged 
in fervent supplication. I acknowledged my 
guilt ; I pleaded the blood of Christ shed for 
me; I sued for mercy; but no consolation 
was afforded, and, quite exhausted, I retired 
to bed. There I renewed my prayer, and 
while so doing I fell asleep. Shortly after I 
awoke, and, kneeling by my bed-side, I be- 
sought the Lord for a ray of heavenly light. 
Still without a satisfactory sense of God's love, 



48 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

I rested again for a short time ; and, on awak- 
ing, a flood of holy joy and peace burst in. 
God was present to my soul, and his love was 
manifest to a degree more rapturous than I 
had ever before experienced. * I praised, I 
adored, I blessed my Redeemer. 

" From this time I began to understand 
more fully, or rather it was now that I began 
to understand at all, the nature of the human 
heart in its unregenerate state, and what are the 
glorious changes to be expected from redeeming 
grace. I perceived what a vitally important 
part of the work of redemption pertains to the 
Holy Spirit ; and that every change, and each 
step in the way of holiness, is effected by his 
agency ; and this, too, in compliance with 
an earnest desire, and in answer to fervent 
prayer. A most abhorrent picture of myself 
had been set before me, and I felt that it was 
just what I should be were the Holy Spirit 
withdrawn. Hence there was nothing for 
self-righteousness to build upon, and all pride 
was utterly confounded. The glory of my 
salvation belonged only to the Eedeemer — to 
God manifest in Christ Jesus ; and every grace 
was furnished through him, and imparted by 
the Spirit of Grace. To me nothing remained 
but humility, and prayer, and praise. Self 
was prostrate ; Christ was magnified. Hith- 



/' EXPERIENCE AND USEFULNESS. 49 

^ erto I had believed in Christ, but now I began 
to see what faith in Christ really meant. It 
was no longer the mere belief of assent, but 
the belief of trust; no longer a dead, but a 
living and working faith. I had now no re- 
mote nor indefinite object to attain, but an 
immediate advantage to pursue. Glorious as 
was the thought of an ultimate salvation, it 
could scarce afford an impulse so quickening 
as the conviction that holiness of heart and 
the peace of God might be obtained in this 
life, and an absolute change of being be even 
now effected. Here was sco])e enough for all 
diligence, and for the fervency of prayer, 

**For clearness I shall repeat the knowledge 
I now gained. I had fancied that in the 
change wrought upon me at my conversion, 
the vile condition of my heart would have 
been altogether amended and rectified ; and 
I anticipated nothing but purity of thought 
and conformity to God. Disappointed in this, 
I began to doubt if the change I had undergone 
were suiBBcient ; and when I found that sin 
had still dominion over me, I was almost 
tempted to mistrust the power assigned to 
religion. But when I knew my heart better, 
I perceived that I had never been truly self- 
abased, nor brought into a subjection to God 
sufficiently lowly. But now that I knew that 



50 MEMOIR OP RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

the very essence of my nature was sin in God's 
sight, in that very discovery there was laid the 
foundation for building a holy temple unto 
God. I now felt an enmity to the flesh which 
warred against the spirit; and I could now 
with delight and comfort seek the aid of God 
in the contest. The light of his countenance 
shone upon me; his word grew precious to 
me ; and with the knowledge that his Spirit 
helpeth our infirmities, I trust to set about 
the work of ordering all things rightly in 
his sight more seriously than ever.'' 

The grace which he coveted was granted, 
and the career of Mr. Williams was hence- 
forth marked by warm and consistent piety. 
In his profession more popular than ever, and, 
owing to his humane and disinterested exer- 
tions, in great request among the poor, he 
often seized the opportunity to urge on their 
attention the interests of their never-dying 
souls. His faithful counsels and exhortations 
were frequently crowned with success ; and 
long before he had thoughts of laboring 
abroad, he had become a medical missionary 
at home. In the year when Burslem was 
visited by cholera, the success of his treat- 
ment entailed on him an enormous pressure 
of employment ; but, even amid all the toil 
and hurry of that anxious season, he found 



EXPERIENCE AND US^ULNESS. 51 

time to pray with the sick, and to point them 
to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins 
of the world. In his manner there was some- 
thing very softening and assuring, as well as 
very impressive; and in repeated instances 
he had reason to hope that his " labor was not 
in vain in the Lord.'^ Several departed de- 
claring that their only confidence was in the 
merits and mediation of that Saviour to whom 
he had directed their dying eye ; and in the 
memory of many of his patients he still lives 
as the good physician who strove so earnestly 
for the cure of " all their diseases.'^ 

One field of his usefulness must not be for- 
gotten. He was in the habit of visiting the 
barracks at Burslem, and distributing tracts 
to the soldiers. In two instances, at least, he 
succeeded in reawakening religious impres- 
sions ; and the men whom he then induced to 
join the Wesley an Society still maintain their 
steadfastness. With one of them, after he 
left Burslem, Mr. Williams kept up an affec- 
tionate correspondence ; and we may trans- 
cribe a few sentences from the first of his 
letters : — 

"BuKSLEM, April 26, 1850. 

..." Eemember, my brother, that it is a 
matter of very little consequence isv-h^t form 



52 MEMOIR T)F RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

our trials take. To the ungodly, afflictions 
are indeed vexations ; but although to the 
Christian they are grievous, yet they are 
cheerfully to be submitted to, rejoicing that 
we are counted worthy to suffer as sons, and 
that our heavenly Father chasteneth us for our 
profit. The Lord give us more faith and love ! 
Seek, my dear brother, ever to have fellow- 
ship with God the Father and God the Son in 
the Spirit ; and let the thought of such amaz- 
ing privilege raise and ennoble your affections, 
while you grow indifferent more and more to 
worldly hopes and worldly fears. Set all 
your affections on things above, and declare 
in the face of all men that here you are but 
a pilgrim and sojourner, as were all your 
fathers in the faith before you. When you 
find your heart oppressed, bethink you of the 
glorious reward Christ will give to all his 
tempted but faithful followers, who shall all 
come to the place of their rest through much 
tribulation. 

" The Lord bless you, my dear brother. 
You must endeavor to beat up recruits, and 
enlist them into the service of the great and 
glorious King of kings, the blessed and only 
Potentate. Show every man who doubts your 
being appointed on such service the sign- 
manual of your Captain himself, — * The Spirit 



EXPERIENCE AND USE^'ULNESS. 53 

and the Bride say, Come ; and let him that 
heareth sat/, Oome,^ You have heard and re- 
ceived the words of eternal life: therefore 
take up your cross, follow your crucified Mas- 
ter, and share his reproach and sufferings. 

" From your sincerely affectionate brother 
in the Lord, E. Williams.-" 

On the principle indicated in the close of 
this letter, Mr. Williams was already acting. 
He opened rooms in several neglected districts 
of the town, and as many as could be. induced 
to attend he exhorted with much power and 
tenderness to flee from the wrath to come. 
A marked impression was often produced; 
and an eye-witness informs us that from these 
labors " a few of the most useful men have 
been raised up, and are following his way of 
kindness to the souls and bodies of their 
neighbors.'' 

Mr. Williams was thus gradually drawn 
into the work of a home missionary. He 
enjoyed it exceedingly. It was an outlet for 
all the energies of his eager and benevolent 
nature ; and the impression frequently pro- 
duced was a delightful recompense, and cheered 
him to proceed. He began to feel that in sucfi 
labors he would fain *^ spend and be spent ;" 
and belonging to a community in which evan- 



S4 MEMOIR 8f RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

gelistic effort has been an almost invariable 
result from personal piety, it is not wonderful 
that his thoughts began to be directed to the 
missionary enterprise. Just as his thorough- 
going enthusiasm, at a former period, had 
forced its way from the workshop to the col- 
lege', so now the same fervor, intensified and 
consecrated, was urging him out into the field 
of the world ; and, although in a quarter lit- 
tle expected, a door was about to open. 



THE MISSION. 55 



i mtman. 



If the love of Christ, above everything else, does not constrain ns 
to engage in the missionary work, surely, instead of finding happiness, 
of all persons we shall be the most miserable. — Gordon HaU. 

There was a Christian officer of the British 
Navy, whose attention had been especially 
directed to the South American Indians. He 
was peculiarly prepossessed in favor of the 
Araucanian tribes in Bolivia and La Plata, 
and at great personal hazard he undertook 
repeated journeys of exploration among them. 
His object was to discover an opening for the 
introduction of the gospel ; but he found them 
so suspicious of strangers, and on every side 
so hemmed in by Spanish Popery, that he was 
shut up to the conclusion that little could be 
effected till the local governments became 
more tolerant, and a better understanding 
was established between the independent In- 
dians and their white neighbors. 

However, one region appeared more prac- 
ticable. This was the exti'eme south of the 
American mainland. There were no Eomish 
priests in Patagonia, and scarcely any com- 
mencement of European settlements. The 



56 MEMOm OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Patagoniaiis were a race of good capacity ; 
and should the truth once find a lodgment 
among them, it was hoped that it might be 
thence transmitted to the northward, without 
needing to cross the barrier which Popery had 
thrown around the coast. 

Full of his benevolent project, Captain 
Gardiner came to England. He succeeded in 
indoctrinating with his views a few friends, 
and inspired them with a measure of his own 
enthusiasm. So intent was he on the execu- 
tion of his plan, and so secure of its ultimate 
success, that he was willing to devote to it not 
only his life and his property, but he proposed 
to take with him his wife and family, and es- 
tablish his future home in Patagonia. 

Meanwhile, a small committee was formed 
at Brighton, with Sir Thomas Bloomfield as 
the treasurer ; and in December, 1844, Cap- 
tain Gardiner, accompanied by Mr. Hunt, a 
missionary catechist, set sail for Cape Greg- 
ory. But the experiment failed. The in- 
veterate thieving propensities of the natives, 
and the dayly increasing risk of violence, ren- 
dered a longer sojourn on shore impossible ; 
and after a month of anxiety and danger, 
the Captain and his companion were glad to 
take refuge on ship-board, and return to En- 
gland. 



THE MISSION. 57 

What he had experienced at Cape Gregory, 
convinced Captain Gardiner that it would not 
he safe for any missionary party to put itself 
entirely in the power of the natives. And, 
therefore, he proposed a scheme which he 
hoped would secure them in case of danger. 
He recommended that a decked boat should 
be provided, into which the missionaries might 
retreat when needful ; and, as farther re- 
searches had led him to prefer Tierra del Fuego 
to the Patagonian mainland, in this vessel 
tliey would be able to follow, from island to 
island, the migrations of the restless inhabit- 
ants. 

Early in 1848 a trial was made ; but so 
imperfect were the means at the disposal of 
Captain Gardiner, that he found it impossible 
to persevere. Accordingly, he again returned 
to England, nowise daunted by his repeated 
disappointments, and confident of triumph 
could he only command the requisite appli- 
ances. But two apparent failures were trying 
to the zeal of his most sanguine supporters, 
and the mission was not of that magnificent 
kind which lays hold of romantic sympathies. 
There was little attraction in a few dim and 
oozy islets away at tha world^s end ; and, to 
many, the very name of a " Patagonian^^ mis- 
sion suggested a sort of pious Quixotism. 



58 MEMOIR OP RICHAKD WILLIAMS. 

Besides, it was not unfairly argued, Why- 
waste the Church's resources on a handful of 
savages, when the millions of India and China 
have such a prepoUent claim ? 

But the South American Indians had seized 
the imagination and the heart of Captain 
Grardiner, and he would allow his friends no 
rest till they gave him a fair and final oppor- 
tunity. Far away as Fuegia was, and few as 
were its hungry barbarians, he could plead 
their relative importance. Guiana excepted, 
of all that mighty continent no other spot was 
accessible to Protestant missions. It was the 
Gibraltar of the South Pacific, and it was of 
no small consequence to our mariners to peo- 
ple with friendly occupants the Straits of 
Magellan and the coasts in the rear of Cape 
Horn. Above all, it was the only avenue at- 
tainable to the vast tribes of the interior — the 
tenants of the Andes, and the fierce nomads 
of the Pampas ; and as Popery had closed the 
main gates against the gospel, it was of para- 
mount urgency to seize and keep open this 
postern. 

The representations of this heroic evangel- 
ist again produced their impression, and his 
own self-devotion was more affecting than any 
argument. He put his life into the venture ; 
others gave their money; one lady contributed 



THE MISSION. 59 

a thousand pounds ; a new committee was 
constructed ; meetings were held ; circulars 
were issued. Two launches, twenty-six feet 
long, were built, the one as a floating mission- 
house, the other as a store-ship and magazine, 
with two small boats as tenders. An adver- 
tisement was inserted in the religious news- 
papers inviting catechists to join the expedi- 
tion ; and, for the manning of the boats, a few 
suitable seamen were selected."' 

It was to this advertisement that the eye 
of Mr. Williams was providentially directed, 
and he answered it in the following letter ad- 
dressed to Captain Gardiner : — 



"BuESLEM, itfay 17, 1850. 

" Sir, — Having observed in the Watchman 
of the current week an advertisement for a 
lay missionary to Tierra del Fuego, I beg 
leave to request further particulars in refer- 
ence to the mission, and to be furnished with 

^' A full account of these proceedings will be found in 
the " Narrative of Missionary Effort in South America/' 
by the Rev. George Pakenham Despard, B. A. For many 
interesting details the editor is also indebted to an oblig- 
ing communication from Archibald Tucker Ritchie, Esq., 
of Liverpool, ^Mr. Pakenham's able and ardent predeces- 
sor in the Secretariat of the Patagonian Missionary So- 
ciety. 



(50 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

specific information as to the qualifications 
required in the individual presenting him- 
self. 

" The advertisement has struck me as pre- 
senting a singular opportunity of realizing 
hopes which have been long indulged ; namely, 
of devoting my whole life and services to the 
cause of God. Were I to engage in such a 
duty, it would not be because of any necessity 
to seek a livelihood, as I am already provided 
with a profession, and in the enjoyment of an 
income therefrom adequate to my necessities 
and wishes. Indeed, if I sought for an en- 
gagement in connection with such an arduous 
enterprise, I should do it with a full conscious- 
ness of its !*equiring a sacrifice of all worldly 
and temporal good, sincerely reckoning all 
such loss to be gain, and, I hope, ready also 
to put even life in jeopardy that I might serve 
Christ, and be in his hand an instrument, 
however humble, to advance his dominion. 

" I will jnst state a few particulars concern- 
ing myself : — 

" I am, I humbly trust, a converted man, 
having received the grace of God which bring- 
eth salvation little more than three years, 
previous to which I had been a skeptic and 
deist. 

" I belong to the Wesleyan Methodist com- 



THE MISSION. 61 

m union, and am a local preacher and class 
leader. From the time of my conversion, and 
with an ardent desire to promulgate the truths 
which so deeply affected my own heart, I have 
been acting on the principle of a home mis- 
sionary, convening the poor together, and ex- 
horting them to receive Christ; and God has 
acknowledged and blessed my labors to the 
conversion of some, if not many, souls. 

" My profession is that of surgeon, which I 
have been practicing in this town with, I be- 
lieve, credit, and the esteem of my fellow- 
townsmen. I am single, and just arrived at 
my thirty-third year. I may add that I have 
been in practice on my own account for nearly 
five years.^' 

This letter was favorably received. The 
committee satisfied itself as to Mr. Williams's 
personal worth and general qualifications; 
and, having passed satisfactorily an examina- 
tion in theology, he was appointed, along 
with Mr. Maidment, a catechist in the Fuegian 
Mission. 

In taking this step, Mr. Williams relin- 
quished a good income, and postponed for a 
long period some cherished prospects. Nor 
was it a slight trial to his tender and affec- 
tionate spirit to part with so many loved 



62 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

friends and relatives. But happily, after his 
services were accepted, so short a period elapsed 
till he found himself on ship-board, that there 
was no time for protracted partings or sorrow- 
ful musings. Before he could dispose of his 
practice, or go to bid farewell to some of his 
nearest kindred, the time of embarkation had 
arrived, and it required his best speed to 
reach Liverpool before the sailing of the 
Ocean Queen. 



THE VOYAGE. 63 



t 



These difficulties are nothing in reality. He tliat has an object in 
view so exciting as the acquisition of ability to preach Christ to the 
heathen, plods along without one thought of weariness or inconveni- 
ence ; loviDg to tread the rough furrows, because he sees them strewn 
with the promise of many a sheaf. — B&v. William Arthwr, 

The partings were mostly over beforehand, 
and the tranquillity and content of its autumn 
were filling the air of England on the day 
when the pilgrims left it. And the peace of 
God was keeping their minds. Mr. Eitchie, 
the early and ardent promoter of the mission, 
and a few other friends, accompanied them to 
the ship, and, from the cheerfulness of the 
voyagers, augured the best for the success of 
their expedition. They considered their prep- 
arations complete, and with hearts strong and 
hopeful they bore away down the Mersey.'-*'' 

*'From Mr. Ritchie's communication, already men- 
tioned, we may give the foUowing particulars of the 
last hour at Liverpool. Captain Gardiner had not 
yet reached the vessel, which was already warping out 
of dock : " I endeavored, however, to improve the precious 
moments by carrying on a conversation from the wharf 
with our friends on the poop-deck, who were dressed in 
their sea-going garbs, and protected from a hot Septem- 



64 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

During the voyage as well as afterward in 
the place of his destination, Mr. Williams 
kept a copious journal. This companion of 
his wanderings, and confident of all his mus- 
ings, has survived many perils, and been sent 

ber sun by broad-brimmed 'sombreros/ They seemed 
fuU of hope, and animated by a high and holy zeal for 
the great cause on which they were about to proceed; 
and, judging from their healthful animated looks, they 
were as well adapted as any men ever were for the 
fatigues and privations which stared them in the face/^ 
" When Captain Gardiner arrived, I particularly remem- 
ber asking him, with that frankness which became our 
intimacy, for how long a period he considered the pro- 
visions he was taking would serve the party ; to which 
he replied, 'About "six months after arrival, even allow- 
ing we catch no fish nor kill any game.' I expressed 
my regret that he had not taken a twelve months' pro- 
vision at once, especially when he was aware of the diffi- 
culty, if not impracticability, of hereafter" landing any 
at the mission, — owners not wishing to allow their ves- 
sels to deflect from their course, to touch at so dangerous 
a coast as Tierra del Fuego. On this he gave me expla- 
nations, — based on the state of the funds of the Mission, 
the certainty of damage by wet and damp, and the ex- 
posure to robbery by the natives, — which, no doubt, 
were perfectly satisfactory to himself, and must also 
have been so to me, for I thought little further on the 
subject. Shortly afterward, about noon, the Ocean Queen 
was warped through the gates, and, following her tug 
steamer, swam nobly down the vassal river, amid cheers 
from the pier-head, much augmented by the numerous 
friends of the San Francisco emigrants, and the re- 
sponse from on board, until at length she was lost in the 
haze/' 



THE VOYAGE. 65 

home to its author's family. From its dayly 
records we gather the. following account of 
the vova^e: — 

" Saturday, September 7, 1850. — Came on 
board the Ocean Queen at eleven A. M. At 
noon hauled out of the Brunswick Dock Basin, 
and taken in tow by steam tug. 

" Fairly on board and standing out for the 
wide ocean, how varied were the emotions felt ! 
But the one above all others was a sense of 
joy at the certainty of now being actually 
engaged in the great work of making known 
the Saviour of the world, and that, too, to a 
poor benighted people — a race of savages. 

" Now, for the first time, I saw those who 
were to be my companions in the work of 
faith. These I found (besides Captain Gar- 
diner) consisted of my fellow-catechist Mr. 
Maidment, Joseph Erwin, ship-carpenter, and 
our three boatmen from Mousehole, near Pen- 
zance, — John Badcock, John Bryant, John 
Pearce. 

" The vessel is bound for San Francisco, 
California, being 568 tons burden, command- 
ed by Captain H. S. Cooper, and carrying, 
besides our own party, a lady and gentleman 
from Liverpool, with their children and two 
servants, and four German Jews. 

" Sunday, September 8. — Captain Gardiner 

5 



66 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

conducted services in the cabin, morning and 
night ; but I could not venture to be present, 
— as yet unable to bear the motion below. 

" I have much enjoyed the day, and felt 
much of the goodness of God while pondering 
on my situation. However, I can scarcely 
realize the actuality of my position, and this 
novel change so suddenly brought abouf. 
My poor dear friends ! 

''Thursday, September 12. — I have now had 
time to see something of my associates. The 
more I see of Captain Allen Gardiner, the 
more I admire his character. Day by day he 
opens up before me in some new and pleasing 
light. I am sure he will gain not only on 
my esteem but also on my affections. Every 
morning he reads a chapter and expounds it, 
and then prays. In the evening I or my fel- 
low-catechist read the Scriptures and pray. 
I am greatly pleased, and derive much edifi- 
cation from the enlightened and truly spirit- 
ual character of the Captain's observations 
on the Scriptures, and the unction which 
accompanies his prayers. 

*' One of our boatmen, John Pearce, is ill 
with continued fever, contracted before he left 
home, where fever was prevailing. He felt 
indisposed for a day or two before he came 
on board. May God preserve him to us, and 



THE VOYAGE. 67 

enable me to act judiciously in the treatment 
of his case ! 

" Tuesday, September 17. — Latitude 39' 52', 
long. 18' 8^ Wind directly aft; sea very 
smooth ; weather exceedingly fair and quite 
warm, so that we need only light clothing. 
The nights, too, are very beautiful. As 
things now are, a sea life is really very de- 
lightful. We expect to be off Madeira in a 
day or two, and have already a foretaste of 
its balm-breathing atmosphere and sunny 
clime. 

"Our boatman, John Pearce, is happily 
much better ; and now, thank God, there is 
every hope of his speedy recovery. And 
what is very pleasing, there is no appear- 
ance of the fever spreading to any others on 
board. 

*' We have been now ten days at sea. I 
begin to realize the fact without so much 
maziness and wonder as I felt at first. The 
change from my accustomed avocations to a 
voyage for a distant land was so abrupt and 
sudden, that it was impossible not to feel 
occasionally startled at the newness of my 
position. Being unable, owing to the short- 
ness of time, to dispose of my practice, I was 
engaged up to the day of my leaving Burslem, 
without having so much as the opportunity 



68 MEMOIR O^F RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

of visiting absent friends, from whom I had 
already been separated for years past. 

" When I reflect on the circumstances with 
which I had to contend in entering on this 
engagement, I feel how great a cause I have 
for thankfulness to the grace of God which has 
sustained me, and enabled me to keep faithful 
to my purpose. Scarcely four months elapsed 
between my first hearing of the Patagonian 
Missions and my embarkation. Settled in prac- 
tice upward of five years, with a large connec- 
tion, many friends, and some strong ties ; to 
dissever myself from long-formed associations, 
and to settle all my affairs in so short a time, 
presented difficulties that at times seemed in- 
superable. However, from the moment of 
pledging myself to the work, I had a firm 
confidence that I should be enabled to over- 
come every obstacle. But when the time of 
my departure drew near, and when, after every 
effort, my affairs were as far from settlement 
as ever, a fear for the first time crossed my 
mind as to whether it was really God^s will 
that I should go. One morning, I awoke with 
a feeling of sadness, which deepened upon me. 
And yet I saw that I could never again be 
happy if anything prevented my going. I 
saw that I could never be the same man, nor 
look forward to a career of usefulness equal to 



THE VOYAGE. 69 

the past, trifling as that had been. This state 
of mind continued till the evening of the 
second day, when suddenly light shone in 
upon my mind, and comfort and consolation 
filled my heart. I saw that I had been suffer- 
ing from the tempter, but now God had re- 
stored his energizing grace and strength, and 
I resolved that nothing short of illness or death 
should prevent my going forth in his name. 
My friends, who had greatly rejoiced at the 
momentary hope of my not leaving them, had 
now the sad disappointment of seeing me more 
firm in my purpose than ever. I felt for thee, 
my poor dear Annie, when I was necessitated 
to check again all thy rising hopes that thy 
brother would not leave thee. The flush of 
exultation was on thy cheek, the triumph of 
thy heart sparkled in thy eye, when I was 
obliged again to tell thee, * It cannot be. 
]!^o : I must go. It is the will of God. 
Annie, I must go.' May God comfort the 
kindest and most tender-hearted of sisters 
that ever brother was blessed with ! God 
comfort and sustain thee, Annie ! 

" I shall not readily forget the evening of 
my leaving Burslem. Though sad to part 
with so many dear old friends, yet to see such 
an assemblage of Christian brethren, each 
with a tear in his eye and a prayer on his 



70 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

lips, to wish me God-speed, was sweetly touch- 
ing to my heart. I do not forget you, my 
beloved friends. How happy is the thought 
that on so many praying lips my name will 
often find a place when the Holy One of Israel 
is sought in fervent devotion ! 

^^ Wednesday, Sept 18. — Everything is so 
agreeable, that at present our voyage is like 
a pleasure trip. On deck, where we remain 
for the most part of the day, enjoying the 
warm sunshine and the fresh balmy breeze, 
with a clear sky and the deep blue waters, 
with the ship steadily stealing away, and all 
clean and orderly around us, cheerful counte- 
nances and pleasing associates, — ^^there seems 
scarce anything wanting to contribute to our 
enjoyment. I have felt real happiness this 
day. Nothing has occurred that could make 
it otherwise. There has been communion 
betwixt my soul and God the whole day 
long. I have had the Scriptures in my hand, 
reading and meditating the greater part of 
the day ; and the Word has been applied by 
the Spirit of Truth with refreshing power to 
my soul. I have been drinking of the river 
whose waters make glad the city of the living 
God. Now thrown entirely on the Lord, in 
body, soul, and spirit given up to God, seeking 
to draw nigher and closer unto him whom I 



THE VOYAGE. 71 

love and in whom I am chosen, aspiring after 
more of the precious influences of the Spirit 
of grace and love, and desiring to be perfect- 
ed in the knowledge and love of Christ, I have 
this day felt that God is willing to give me far 
more abundantly than all I can ask or think. 
His banner has been spread over me, and the 
presence of Christ fills my heart with joys that 
are unutterable. 

" This evening I commenced a class-meet- 
ing, Erwin and the boatmen joining me. The 
Lord was graciously present to bless. I was 
much pleased with the simplicity and earnest- 
ness of their experience. Poor Erwin, who 
has not yet found Christ as his Saviour, was 
much affected, and, I believe, is not very far 
from the kingdom of God. May the Lord help 
him speedily to step into the glorious liberty 
of the sons of God ! 

" Thursday, Sept 19. — I am deriving much 
good from witnessing the Christian character 
exemplified so strikingly in the person of our 
beloved Captain [Gardiner]. Truly he is a 
man of God. There is a devotedness to God 
manifested by him delightful to witness ; — a 
fervid piety, with great simplicity of deport- 
ment, a high tone of exalted greatness of soul, 
with the absence of all pride or self-elevation. 
His mind is evidently deeply imbued with the 



72 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Word of Life. I sink utterly into nothing- 
ness by comparison with him. I esteem it a 
great privilege to have such a living example 
set before me. Hitherto I have had to strug- 
gle on unaided by man in my eflforts to gain 
the mastery over an evil heart of unbelief. 
Now I feel I shall derive great help and en- 
couragement from seeing one far advanced in 
the way of holiness exemplifying the graces 
of the Christian character. He has made me a 
present of two works written by him — Travels 
in Africa^ and A Voice from South America, 

" Saturday, Sept 21. — Had our last view of 
Madeira at noon, distant from us about fifty 
miles. A lovely day, — the thermometer in 
the cabin ranging above summer heat, — in 
the sun very hot. To-day I had occasion to go 
to the forecastle to attend on two of the sail- 
ors who were confined by sickness. This gave 
me an opportunity of talking to the men, and 
I had a long conversation with them, and en- 
deavored to impress their minds, by God's 
help, with thoughts concerning their own sal- 
vation. They listened respectfully. Since 
coming on board, I have been much affected 
by feeling myself palpably surrounded with 
wickedness on all hands. Happily the posi- 
tion is quite novel ; for, although I have been 
ever moving among the worldly and the pro- 



THE VOYAGE. 73 

fane, yet I have been able to retire from 
among them into the seclusion of my own or 
some other quiet home. But now the harsh 
sound of vice reaches my ear all the day long, 
and I feel I am indeed a stranger and a pil- 
grim here. I bless the Lord that I look not 
for an abiding place, a continuing city among 
men, but that I am traveling with a conscious- 
ness of its being the wilderness, and looking 
forward to the rest which God hath prepared 
for his people. ^T were a sin against God to 
expect or seek a rest here in this world. Here 
we must labor and lay up our treasure with 
God. Here we must toil and patiently endure 
the burden and heat of the day. Here we 
must wage our warfare, and fight the good 
fight of faith. * Behold, God will come with 
a recompense.' I will look forward and 
hasten unto the day of his appearing. I bless 
and praise God that I feel the Lord most gra- 
ciously helping me, strengthening me, en- 
larging my faith, inspiring me with hope and 
confidence, and giving me sensibly to feel the 
tokens of his love. The sunshine of God is 
in my heart, — it feels the love of Christ. 

*' I do desire to glorify God. I long to love 
God with my whole soul. I seek and earn- 
estly desire to have my every thought direct- 
ed to the Lord. I truly wish for nothing the 



74 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

whole earth contains. I ask for nothing but 
grace to love God with all my heart, and 
mind, and soul, and strength, and, accepted 
of him, to be laid out and be spent in his ser- 
vice, to his honor and glory. With the world 
I have done, — with all its interests and pur- 
suits, as far as feeling more attachment to them 
than as things with which, while it pleases 
God, I am for a moment connected. But my 
treasure and ray heart are both in heaven. 
Grant, O Lord, that I may truly love thee ! 
Cold is my heart toward thee ; give me thy 
love ! Lord Jesus, hear and answer this my 
prayer ! 

" Ah, my dear, my beloved friends, how 
many have been your anxious thoughts ere 
this ! O may the Almighty God who blesses 
me with his peace, and gives me to taste the 
sweet consolations of Christ, bless you also, 
and keep your hearts from all doubts and tor- 
menting fears ! I am safe from all harm and 
secure from all evil in his hands. I wish I 
could just tell each one of you so. God bless 
you all. The moment for our meeting to- 
gether in prayer has just arrived. 

" Monday, September 23. — Yesterday, the 
Sabbath, we had a very delightful day. In 
the morning Captain Gardiner conducted the 
service, and read a sermon; in the evening. 



THE VOYAGE. 75 

Mr. Maidment. These services were held in 
the cabin, and there was a large muster of the 
ship's company present, and a precious oppor- 
tunity was afforded for sowing the seed of life. 
Bufc I fear the opportunity was somewhat lost, 
for the reason that the discourses were not 
suitable and adapted to the minds of these poor 
ignorant men. I felt this at the time, and de- 
termined to prepare a sermon for the next Sab- 
bath evening, in dependence on divine help. 

*'This evening I went forward to the fore- 
castle in company with Mr. Maidment. We 
found most of the sailors present, nothing 
being doing on deck, as there was a perfect 
calm. They had just concluded a very jovial 
song with a boisterous chorus ; and a party of 
them were engaged with cards. I treated 
them as gently as possible, and as I have had 
an interview with many of them individually 
before, I managed to work my way pretty 
smoothly. The card-players, however, were 
very intent on their game, and tried to evade 
our notice. At length I asked them if they 
would allow me to pray with them, to which 
they consented. I had great liberty and ac- 
cess to God, and the men afterward thanked 
me, and seemed to think I had done them a 
kindness. May the Lord bless the effort, 
made in his name, to their good ! 



76 MEMOIR OF RICHARD AVILLIAMS. 

'' Wednesday, October 2.— Lat. 13° 57^ long. 
26' 35^ Light winds, and very hot. All the 

Jews ill with fever. Mrs. T likewise ill. 

Extracted a tooth for Captain C. Now that 
there is absolute need of my aid, I feel a high 
degree of gratification that I am able to afford 
assistance, and feel the value of my profession 
more, I think, than I ever did. What a 
pleasure to practice medicine irrespective of 
pecuniary considerations ! How much more 
pleasurable to do good for its own sake, and 
to relieve the sufferings of our fellow-crea- 
tures, and to have our reward in the pleasure 
of doing so, than to connect therewith the 
gain of money ! Would circumstances have 
allowed it, I should willingly have practiced 
without making any charge. How often did 
I regret that I had an expensive establish- 
ment to keep up, arid wished it was but a cot- 
tage, and that I might practice as a poor man 
among the poor ! I never desired to increase 
my connection among the more respectable ; 
for so much unnecessary formality was re- 
quired by them, and with them I had not the 
same privilege of addressing them in the lan- 
guage of affectionate concern, or of offering 
spiritual advice to their souls. The poor have 
generally some consciousness of their spiritual 
as well as temporal destitution, and they are 



THE VOYAGE. 77 

more frequently accessible to a kindly in- 
tended act of Christian philanthropy. But 
the rich and the respectable feel that their 
worldly position entitles them to considera- 
tion, and they expect that deference should be 
paid as well to their opinions as to their rank ; 
hence, they are offended by any display of a 
disposition to teach and instruct them. ' Thou 
wast altogether born in sin,^ is their language, 
'and dost thou teach us ?V In the happy 
change now presented to me in prospect, may 
God grant that I may live unweariedly em- 
ployed in doing good, and enjoy the sweet 
charm of a life spent in beneficence to others, 
and those others a race of beings who have 
scarcely ever felt the flowings of human kind- 
ness toward them ! Jesus, blessed Saviour, 
let these poor heathen, to whom thou art send- 
ing us, taste of thy precious love, and know 
thee in the riches of thy infinite mercy ! 
Darkest and most wretched of the human 
race, my precious Saviour, it will be a fit oc- 
casion to serve thee, in displaying thy good- 
ness to ransom vile man in his utmost degra- 
dation, and thy willingness that not one should 
perish, but that all men should be saved. 
Lord Jesus, it is thy will these should behold 
a great light shining forth from thy presence 
in their darkness. O let thy Spirit of grace 



78 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

go in advance of us, and dispose their hearts 
to receive thy truth ! 

' '' Thursday, October 3. — Bless God ! I feel 
the Lord is good and gracious to my soul. 
He is drawing me hy the cords of his love. 
Jesus is becoming more and more precious ; 
my heart feels more true interest and delight 
in him. I more clearly feel now, what, for a 
time, I failed to experience, that even when 
my heart would withdraw from the Lord, at a 
time when doubts and evil thoughts were sug- 
gested — that then, as at all other times, Jesus 
is waiting to hear our cry for help. When 
perplexed by a sense of the evil of my heart, 
struck with its hardness and insensibility, im- 
pressed with its base ingratitude and forget- 
fulness of God, and horrified w^ith the vile 
thoughts injected into my mind, how often 
have I kept my eye fixed on my condition, 
until I could scarce lift it up to God, and with 
a weak faith have hesitated to approach my 
beloved Lord ! But now I happily know that^ 
feel what I may of the workings of evil within, 
however strong the evidence of my own base- 
ness, so far from keeping me from applying to 
Jesus, this is the greater reason for my in- 
stant looking up to him as * the Lord my right- 
eousness.' I bless God for a livelier trust in 
the atonement of the blood of Christ, and for 



THE VOYAGE. 79 

a more assured trust in Jesus, as my ever- 
willing, ever-able, and ever-present Saviour. 
How does my heart cleave to thee, my Lord ! 
Assuredly w^hile I have hold upon thee, my 
ransom and plea, my surety and trust, my 
hope and my joy, my portion and my only 
love, all is, all w^ill be well. 

" Wednesday, October 23. — Crossed the line 
at about three A. M. 

''Friday, 25. — Left off smoking and taking 
snuff. Gave my tobacco and meerschaum to 
Erwin, my canister of snuff to the captain/^ 

The foregoing extracts give a pleasing im- 
pression of the writer. They bring out his 
tender affection for his friends, the humanity 
and kindliness of his nature, and that delight- 
ful disposition which makes the most of the 
present, and hopes the best for the future. 
They also evince his habitual watchfulness 
over himself, and his firm faith in a divine 
sanctifying agency ; and they glow with that 
adoring affection to the Saviour which is the 
surest sign of piety, and the richest source of 
personal excellence. We think they can 
scarcely fail to edify the reader and endear 
the writer. 

But amid these records of Christian experi- 
ence, some may regard the homely details of 



80 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

the following passage as a dreadful descent. 
We have no such feeling. It is in such con- 
tests that the reality of men's faith and the 
value of their ^' frames '^ are tested. And the 
Christianity, however rapturous, which has 
never renounced a besetting sin, nor conquered 
a bad habit, is too like the patriotism which 
is confined to toasts and national melodies, or 
the filial piety which, offering fond words and 
embraces in lieu of solid services, tries to be 
at once dutiful and self-indulgent. Mr. Will- 
iams was honest. He believed that it was 
God's will that he should give up a certain 
gratification ; and, though some would have 
tried to evade the sacrifice, though they would 
have offered confessions of their own weakness 
or high-flown protestations of their general 
devotedness, in lieu of this particular obedi- 
ence, it was not thus deceitfully that he dealt 
with his heavenly Father and with himself. 

Nor should we be sorry if Mr. Williams's 
example should find imitators among our 
readers. It is true that Dr. Parr and Eobert 
Hall were smokers. It is true that many 
good men are fond of the " naughty foreign 
weed," and that Ealph Erskine " spiritual- 
ized" it. And it may be true that under its 
influence the spirits are serene, the temper 
mild, and the entire man in a state of com- 



. THE VOYAGE. 81 

fortable self-complacency. But we prefer the 
temper which is indeiTendent of tobacco ; and 
we fear that in its self-complacency there is 
something illusive. At least we have known 
friends who, under its influence, fancied them- 
selves far up Parnassus, but when the fog 
cleared away it proved only a spur of the 
mountain : and although, among our college 
companions, we remember clever men who 
smoked, while their duller neighbors studied ; 
and although, in the mist of the meerschaum, 
they used to espy gigantic figures, which they 
hailed as their own glorious future ; now that 
the "morgana'^ has melted, there is a sad 
contrast between the cloudy colossus and the 
slip-shod original from which it was projected, 
and into which the stern day-light has resolved 
it again. 

At all events a minister, and much more a 
missionary, should deem himself a soldier, and 
the less dependent he is on these time-wasting 
enjoyments, the more lightly will he march, 
and the more ready will he be for instant ao- 
tion. Besides, a soldier must endure hard- 
ness. It is good for a man's Christianity to 
be the victor, even in such a contest as the 
battle with tobacco. Every success makes 
him a stronger and a happier man ;— yes, and 
a great deal richer. In this warfare there is 



82 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

always prize money. And if the reader is a 
lover of books, or if, with a most benevolent 
heart, he is always lamenting his empty hand, 
let him attack and spoil this enemy. The 
cigar-case will soon fill a handsome book- 
case; and were the snuff-box of the British 
Churches converted into a box of charity, it 
would maintain all our missionaries, and 
would soon pay the debts of our chapels and 
schools/'*^' 

" Saturday, Oct 26.— S. lat. 6° 34^ long. 
32° 14:. This has been a day ever to be re- 
membered. The light of the Lord's coun- 
tenance has broken upon me, after having 
severely felt that clouds of darkness were 
around me. For more than a month before 
leaving England I had given up the practice 
of smoking and taking snuff. The former 
habit I had practiced for seven or eight years ; 
the latter only occasionally. In fact, it was 
in consequence of leaving off smoking that I 
had recourse to a pinch as an occasional sub- 
stitute. At various times I have been under 
strong impressions that I ought to leave it off, 
and have felt dissatisfied with myself for the 
self-indulgence. But the cravings after it 

*^ For smoking, chewing, and snuffing, Grreat Britain 
pays a yearly bill of seven millions. Does she spend as 
much on books or benevolence ? 



THE VOYAGE. 83 

were become so strong, and the will of the 
flesh so urgently demanded it, that it was no 
easy task to overcome the propensity. There 
is a charm in tobacco powerfully beguiling to 
the senses. Whether this arises from its 
soothing and sedative quality, or from its be- 
ing generally associated with self-indulgence 
— serving as a plea for idleness, and for a 
general relaxation of the whole man, body 
and mind — certain it is, that tobacco has a 
power of enslaving its votaries to a remarka- 
ble degree. No one has ever been more en- 
slaved than I have been ; yet many times 
has my conscience smitten me, and frequently 
while in the act of smoking I have been 
obliged to lay the pipe aside. At times I 
thought I would leave it off altogether. Ac- 
cordingly, I have given away or burnt the 
stock of tobacco I had in hand, broken my 
pipes, and for days essayed to do without it. 
What cravings — what a sense of bereavement 
have I felt ! None but an old smoker can 
have any idea of my miserable longings. I 
have envied the hodman and the meanest per- 
son with his short black pipe. The very per- 
fume was a treat — to inhale it a respite. 
Vain were the efforts thus made. A tooth- 
ache, some bodily disease, or the persuasion 
of others, induced a renewal of the habit, and 



84 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

its bond became stronger than ever. But the 
fiat had gone forth, * Crucify the flesh with its 
affections and lusts ;^ and, blessed be God, 
there was One in me greater than all that 
were against me. Conscience became more and 
more severe upon me. At length I resolved^ 
to leave it off, and happily succeeded with- 
out experiencing any uncomfortable effects. 
This was six weeks before leaving England. 
During that time I kept firm my resolution, 
though, in lieu of smoking, I had recourse to 
snuff. Some of my friends, who thought I 
was going to unnecessary lengths of self-de- 
nial, would put up for me, among the equip- 
ments for my voyage, both tobacco, cigars, and 
a canister of snuff, and they made me promise 
to purchase a meerschaum. Well, I thought, 
circumstances may possibly be such as to ren- 
der it desirable to have them ; so I yielded to 
their wish. On board I could not resist the 
temptation of taking a cigar — such was my 
weakness ; giving them freely away, and 
smoking them dayly, my stock was soon ex- 
hausted ; but all the cravings for tobacco were 
reacquired. I took to the meerschaum, but 
with the indulgence came the condemnation. 
My conscience would not allow me to continue ; 
so I gave the canister of snuff to the captain 
of the ship, and reserved only a small quan- 



THE VOYAGE. 85 

tity. Captain Cooper likewise had my meer- 
schaum, on condition of my not requiring it 
again. Three or four days passed without 
having recourse to him for it, but never did I 
suffer such craving after it. My stomach be- 
came affected, and my spirits so depressed, 
that I was compelled to ask for it again. 
With a sense of great bodily relief and com- 
fort, I smoked it ; but, alas ! my condemna- 
tion was great. Hurriedly opening a book in 
my hand, the question of the Psalmist was 
presented to my eye, ' Lord, who shall abide in 
thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in thy holy 
hill ? He that sweareth to his own hurt and 
changeth not.^ These words were applied to 
my mind most forcibly. I was condemned. 
But now I saw my duty ; and, suffer what I 
might, I resolved to give up the practice in 
all its forms. Having sought mercy and for- 
giveness with the Lord, and his grace to help 
me, I gave away, in good earnest, all my to- 
bacco, my pipe, and my snuff-box, and I 
threw overboard the small quantity of snuff 
I had reserved. Thus a complete riddance 
was effected. 

^' Friday, November 1. — This day has been 
a most happy one. Never, I think, did I enjoy 
sweeter peace, nor feel a love so ardent and 
personal toward God my Saviour. The years 



/ 



86 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

of my life have rolled before me, and the vari- 
ous epochs and characteristic phases thereof 
have presented themselves to me in a new and 
striking light. The way of God with me, and 
his gracious dealing, in leading me through 
all the stages of my career, have exhibited 
instances multiplied indeed of infinite good 
ness, mercy, and love. But as yesterday 1 
was the companion of schoolboys, drinking 
deep of the spirit of wonder, and opening up 
new worlds at every turn of my path, counting 
on the future of this life as an indefinite period, 
and on the scenes of this world's labors as an 
expanse without limits. Then manhood ar- 
rived. Ambition led the way — a desire to 
live among the names that die not, and to 
devote my life to the pursuit of knowledge. 
The hand of necessity, as it then seemed, but 
truly the hand of God, urged me on from one 
point to another, and never at any period of 
my life have I taken up a position as the re- 
sult of my own forethought and determination. 
Even when blinded through the ignorance that 
was in me, I was led by a way that I knew 
not. And now I behold myself in a new 
scene, and my heart rejoices to acknowledge 
the goodness and love of God in eventuating 
this. A beautiful thought filled my mind 
this afternoon, and swelled it to a rapture of 



• THE VOYAGE. 87 

joy. It was this : Come what will, change 
and change as circumstances may, yea, come 
death itself, that last great change, still con- 
sciousness will not be interrupted. That con- 
sciousness which identifies with the being that 
now thinks and feels, the being which years 
ago played in childish gambols, will bear on- 
ward a living remembrance of the past, while 
it enters the scenes of eternity. What, then, 
is death? It has lost its sting. I feel no 
fear of it. I feel that nothing can hinder the 
enjoyment of existence — the continuous con- 
sciousness and immortality of that within me 
— the soul that has eternal life in Christ. 
How contented, therefore, am I with my state ! 
and, by the grace of God, I trust to exult in 
tribulation, rejoicing in hope of the glory of 
God. It was with a joyful sense of this truth, 
and in the perception of God's love in thus 
calling me to eternal life, that my soul be- 
came full of love to Jesus my Saviour. From 
the ground of my heart I praised him. Glory 
be to the Lamb of God forever and ever 1 
My soul rejoiced at the thought of an endless 
existence, because I could then everlastingly 
love my Saviour, and glorify God in him. 
Life everlasting was infinitely desirable and 
precious, for such a reason and upon such 
terms. O Lord Jesus ! thou hast broken in 



88 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

upon my soul in the ligbt of thy own reveal- 
ing Spirit, shedding thy love abroad in my 
heart. My heart and soul cry out unto thee, 
and tell thee I love thee V^ 

From a letter written by Mr. Williams to 
his friend, Mr. Jones, and dated November 5, 
1850, we give a few extracts. It not only 
gives a resume of the voyage thus far, but it 
introduces us to the companions of our mis- 
sionary : — 

" Our voyage has hitherto been a very fair 
one : we have no rough weather. We were 
for a considerable length of time delayed by 
variable winds and calms as we approached 
the Line ; but as far as weather is concerned, 
this has been our principal trouble. I felt 
the heat greatly. Our berths at night were 
more like ovens than anything else. We 
have had the fever prevailing greatly among 
us ; three of our men, the boatmen, have had 
it, besides five or six others ; and although I 
have had some ground for anxiety, yet, thank 
God, all have recovered remarkably. The 
Lord has been our keeper. He has stayed the 
pestilence. Unto him be the praise. 

^*We expect to make our destination in 
about three weeks. On getting there, our in- 
tention is, in the first place, by the help of 
the crew, to dig an entrenchment around the 



THE VOYAGE. 89. 

site of our future residence, and inside of this 
to raise up high walls all round, — this on a 
small islet, just big enough for the purpose, 
situate between Picton Island and Garden Is- 
land, close to them both. The vessel, which 
has been rather leaky, it is intended to over- 
haul when we get to Picton Island ; and it is 
probable that she will therefore stay with us 
a week, if not longer. As soon as she leaves, 
it is our intention to start also on a cruise of 
discovery, going for that purpose to the north- 
west, into Beagle Channel, and to the west of 
Navarin Island, and among other places to 
Woolya, the place where Jemmy Button, a 
Fuegian, taken to England by Captain Fitz- 
Eoy, w^as left on his return from England, 
after three years^ absence. If we can make 
him out, doubtless it may prove very advan- 
tageous to us. At all events, we mean to 
purchase,^'*^ if we can, two lads about ten or 
twelve years of age, and take them back with 
us, and from them acquire the language. 
Our cruise may, perhaps, last two or three 
months. This, however, is uncertain. We 

^ Of course Mr. Williams only means that it was in- 
tended to borrow the children from their parents for a 
certain time, making the parents such a present as would 
secure their consent. A button was the consideration 
for which Jemmy's parents made him over to Captain 
FitzKoy. 



90 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

are well provided with boats, having two very- 
large ones with us, besides two gigs to attend 
on their seniors. We are well supplied with 
provisions. 

" Captain Gardiner is much what I expected 
him to be. For indomitable perseverance he 
is unquestionably to be ranked among men of 
the first class, and his life is that of an exact 
and strict disciplinarian. As a Christian, he 
is devout and unaffected, and most sincere. 
I am indeed far, far short of him. I am more 
conscious of my defects since I have been able 
to compare myself with him. I see that I 
am a mere vacillator and weak believer, in 
contrast with his stability and strict integrity. 
I am greatly pleased with all my companions. 
Mr. Maidment, my fellow-catechist, is an amia- 
ble, kind, and worthy man ; and one becomes 
more attached to him, and respects him more, 
the more you know him. He is very sincere 
and humble, and, I fully believe, a child of 
God. Our three young men, having been 
much afflicted, have exhibited their different 
characters strikingly. Poor Bryan, who was 
worst, has shown a very meek and patient 
disposition, full of resignation and a simple- 
hearted love to Christ. Badcock, who is the 
eldest and biggest of the three, is, I am per- 
suaded, the subject of divine grace. He, too. 



THE VOYAGE. 91 

IS remarkably meek, but there is a somewhat 
timid or nervous cast of mind in him. John 
Pierce is a rough, just, honest, and upright 
man, but with a little touch of independence 
of spirit which, subdued by grace and properly 
directed, will rather prove an advantage. 
Erwin, our ship-carpenter, is the most dapper, 
sprightly, and excellent fellow I have met for 
a long time. He is a summary of good quali- 
ties, good sense, kind disposition, unassuming 
deportment, and useful for all purposes ; just 
the man we want to help and comfort us in 
all exigencies. Every one of them has had 
to encounter great objections and many per- 
suasions not to go on such an enterprise. But 
God provides all. He is with us. How de- 
lightful is his service ! How do I rejoice that 
it is my calling to declare Christ, to publish 
such glad tidings to a poor abject race ! Ee- 
joice with me, brother Jones, whilst in the 
words of Mary I would say, * My soul doth 
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced 
in God my Saviour.^ '^ 

Eeturning to the Journal, under " Thurs- 
day, Nov. 28,^^ we find the following entry : — 

** To-day, at about eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing, we passed the Straits of Magellan ; and, 
having had a splendid breeze all day, we are 
at this time, ten P. M., considerably advanced 



92 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

toward tlie Strait of Lc Maire, whicli we hope 
to pass through to-morrow. We are now hap- 
pily bringing our voyage to a close. To-day 
the sun has shone very brilliantly, and this 
evening it has poured a brilliant flood of light 
around us. Its setting was as fine a scene as 
anything we have witnessed during our voy- 
age, and has greatly cheered us, taking it as 
an earnest that we shall not be altogether 
wanting bright days and sunny visitations, 
and likewise deeming it in our fancies as a 
welcome paid us by Fuegia^s luminary. 

''Fiiday, November 29. — To-day, at half-past 
one, A. M., we first had a sight of the mount- 
ains of Tierra del Fuego. At that time I 
heard the chief mate awake the Captain, and 
inform him of the fact. I was singularly im- 
pressed with the idea that we were in danger. 
The thought crossed my mind several times, 
but without affecting me with any anxiety, 
but inducing me to call upon the Lord with 
reliance and trust upon him. I had no ground 
whatever for the surmise at the time, hearing 
no intimation to that effect, and I was sur- 
prised when I afterward learned from the 
second mate, that in consequence of the men 
not keeping a good look-out, we had well-nigh 
run ashore just at that time. 

'' At about half-past four, Captain Gardiner 



THE VOYAGE. 93 

awoke me, and told me the land was well in 
sight. I arose and went on deck. There 
was Tierra del Fuego, sure enough ; its snow- 
tipped mountains were looming through the 
vapors of the morning sky, and the land of 
Fuegia threw a faint cold smile upon us, and 
greeted us with a rough, but, doubtless, a 
hearty shake of the hand ; for truly enough 
we shivered, if not at the sight of it, yet with 
cold. At eight o'clock we were off the en- 
trance of the Strait of Le Maire ; but the wind 
being adverse, we could not take advantage 
of the tide which set at that hour. Conse- 
quently, we had to lie off, and beat between 
the two coasts of Staten Island and the main- 
land. We had thus abundant opportunity 
for seeing this remarkable land, particularly 
Staten Island, and likewise abundant experi- 
ence of the extreme disagreeableness of our 
proximity to the Strait of Le Maire. The 
swell from the ocean here rising in opposition 
to the tide-race produces a scene altogether 
novel to us ; the sea seems literally alive ; its 
commotion is extreme. Abreast the land in 
particular, and extending two or three miles 
out, or more, there is the appearance of in- 
numerable breakers, and the white spray 
dashes its waters about in the wildest manner. 
The wind blowing strong from the S. E., we 



94 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

rolled about, owing to it and the tide race 
and swell combined, far more than we should 
have done in an ordinary gale. At three 
o'clock we hoped to have an opportunity again, 
it being ebb-tide, to pass through ; but though 
we tried, it was impossible, the wind continu- 
ing unfavorable. We have thus during the 
day, it being now nearly eleven, P. M., had 
ample experience of Fuegian weather. If we 
must take it for a sample, it is certainly none 
of the best ; sudden puffs of wind, with omin- 
ous gathering of dark clouds, and a chilly as- 
pect of the whole heavens, with a conviction 
seizing your mind, that you are going to have 
a snow-storm, which apprehension is converted 
into the slighter infliction of a thin driving 
but sharp sleet, or, as I expect we may yet 
find, into a thumping hail-storm ; and then 
the mist on the mountains clears up, and ex- 
poses a few glimmering rays of the sun, burn- 
ishing their sides of snow. 

" In excellent keeping with the rough and 
wintry climate is the aspect of the land. 
Words can never do justice to its frowning, 
wild, and wintry character. Staten Island 
must certainly be unequaled in this respect. 
It is a place of dreariness and of forlorn soli- 
tude, par excellence. Its bare, broken, jagged, 
turret-like hills, present the idea of an im- 



THE VOYAGE. 95 

mense fortress, erected by nature herself on 
her own grand scale, and designed to imprison 
an unmolested solitude within its walls, and 
to frown back all attempts on the part of man 
to disturb her here. It is no wonder that it 
never has been inhabited. It seems from a 
distance as though it were clad in some hard 
and impenetrable covering, saving the snows 
on its ridges and slopes, of one uniform russet 
brown color. 

" I have not felt disturbed by any means. 
This I must attribute to the grace of God only, 
and to no resolution or constancy of my mind ; 
for who can delight more than I in sunny 
scenes? But, praise God, I feel I can well 
forego all earthly joys, if the Lord will gra- 
ciously vouchsafe to bless my soul, and endow 
me with the riches of his grace. I was greatly 
strengthened while in prayer this morning. 
At this the uttermost end of the earth, and 
where there is less in climate, land, or people, 
to cheer the mind, than at almost any other 
spot of the world, if God has a work for me to 
do, and his blessing rests upon me while en- 
gaged therein, then God^s holy will be done 
in me and by me, let the circumstances sur- 
rounding, or the events awaiting me, be what 
they will. At the time of writing this it is 
blowing hard, and the thermometer in the 



96 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

cabin, shut up around me, stands at 52°. I 
am indeed glad to wrap up now. 

" Saturday, November 30. — Our twelfth week 
at sea. At four o'clock this morning, our 
ship having worked about all night, with a 
strong head* wind from the S.S.W., we were 
in the same position ; and our bearings off 
Cape San Diego, at the entrance of the Strait 
of Le Maire, were much the same as they were 
yesterday morning at eight o'clock. Wind 
and tide against us had beaten us back from 
all attempts hitherto made to enter the Strait ; 
but now, taking advantage of an ebb-tide and 
a strong wind, the Captain carried on a heavy 
canvas, and finally about mid-day we got 
through the Strait. It was a hard contest, 
and we did but just escape the lee-shore of 
Staten Island as we weathered Cape St. Bar- 
tholomew. All the day long we have con- 
tinued to beat about under single-reefed top- 
sails, having, especially during the night, 
very violent squalls and a tremendous sea, 
shipping heavy seas on our poop. What with 
the extreme gloom of the weather, snow, sleet, 
hail, and rain, and fogs intermixed with a 
driving cold S.S.W. wind, blowing hard, with 
the dashing of the billows over us, and the 
rolling and pitching of the vessel, our position 
was by no means agreeable. Such was the 



THE VOYAGE. 97 

pitching and constant motion of the vessel, 
that it induced a momentary attack of sea- 
sickness with me, while my poor friend Mr. 
Maidment suffered very severely, as indeed he 
has done throughout the voyage whenever the 
weather has been rough. 

*' The following day, Sunday, was passed 
beating about, with much the same weather 
prevailing, the thermometer in the cabin 
standing most of the day at 42^ and 44"^ 
Fahrenheit. 

** Surely Fuegia is the land of darkness, 
the country of gloom, a scene of wild desola- 
tion, both land and climate agreed as to 
character, — the one frowning and desolate, 
the other black and tempestuous. A few, 
and only a few, cheering smiles has the sun 
beamed upon us ; and the cold snows upon 
the rough masses of Staten Island put on an 
unnatural appearance, and looked more and 
more pale under the reviving influences of 
the light. If such the land, and such the 
climate, we have reason to expect the people 
will not fall short of congruity with either. 
Well, and how do I bear up under these not 
very flattering prospects? Have I had my 
expectations pointed to such an agreeable 
picture? What shall I say ? I will own the 
truth. I have not been ignorant of the fact, 



98. MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

that sucli was the character of the region to 
which I was hound. Captain FitzEoy, and 
especially Mr. Darwin, in his ' Journal/ had 
made this sufficiently clear, yet I certainly 
had not in any degree realized it. How dif- 
ferent is the acquaintance we get by reading, 
from that which we acquire by personal ex- 
perience of things ! In our parlors at home 
we do not shiver at the cold scenes we read 
of, but rather enjoy by contrast our present 
comforts. It is singular, that amid all the 
working of my mind in connection with this 
great undertaking, I never contemplated it 
in the character of one of great suffering, 
and great trial. I was not ignorant that 
such it would assuredly prove itself to be, but 
I troubled not myself with the thought of it. 
I have all along felt that it was required at 
my hand to make the sacrifice of everything 
to God ; but I have had some such feeling 
as was suggested by Abraham to his son Isaac, 
when he was on his way to the altar, with the 
wood on his back whereon he should be offered, 
and that though thus palpably going to the 
fiery ordeal, yet God would provide for himself 
a lamb for the sacrifice. The truth is, I could 
in anticipation cast all my care so entirely 
upon the Lord, that I took no other care but 
to ascertain that it was his will that I should 



THE VOYAGE. 99 

thus serve him, assured that in the hour of 
my need he would strengthen my heart, and 
be with me to sustain me. Have I then 
been taken unawares? No. Have I been dis- 
appointed? No. The hour has come; and 
though I have never painted to my mind all 
that I should have to encounter, yet I am not 
any the less unprepared for the trial, because 
I have not to grapple with it in my own 
strength, nor to prepare myself for the en- 
counter. I verified this yesterday (Sunday) 
morning in a remarkable manner, while en- 
gaged in reading the twelfth chapter of Eo- 
mans. God^s Holy Spirit engaged my soul 
in fervent prayer for grace to help me. I was 
led to oJBfer up my body as a living sacrifice 
to God, and with my whole heart consenting, 
with my entire will prostrate and subjected to 
the will of God, that I might prove what is 
his good, and acceptable, and perfect will. I 
surrendered myself into the hand of the Lord 
Jesus, with so complete a trust in him, and 
love to him, as it was indeed delightful to feel ; 
and how shall I praise the mercy and grace, 
and condescending goodness of God ! I felt 
a sensible manifestation of God to my soul, 
accepting my offer. My heart was broken by 
a sense of God's love, that streamed in upon 
it, and my tears and upheaving breast alone 



100 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

could speak my gratitude and praise. Praise, 
praise to the Lord ! 

" To-day, Monday, December 2, after a some- 
what more favorable night, though making 
but little headway, at eleven o'clock we were 
off Cape Hall, Cape Good Success bearing 
north, (true,) and we now expect to weather 
Cape Pio, and this afternoon make Picton 
Island. 

" Tuesday^ Decemher 3. — Made little ad- 
vance upon yesterday, the wind being right 
ahead. 

" Wednesday, December 4. — Since Monday we 
have been making laborious efforts to weather 
Cape Pio, in Slogget Bay, but until this even- 
ing we have been unsuccessful, the wind blow- 
ing right ahead, and wearing ship and tacking 
about being both in vain. This evening we 
have, however, succeeded, and but for hazy 
weather we might soon have our anchor down. 
Each day has been cold and squally, with hail, 
and sleet, and rain; the sun has only occa- 
sionally been visible : at sunset he has been 
most conspicuous, and last evening it was as 
splendid and brilliant a sight as any we have 
witnessed during the voyage. The land along 
the shore has still the same general charac- 
teristics, — bold and mountainous, dark and 
frowning. The men have been sadly harass- 



THE VOYAGE. 101 

ed at tlieir duties ever since we hove in sight 
of this land of storms. Exposed to drifting 
snow-squalls, and huge seas like cascades 
pouring their volumes of water upon them, 
their plight has been really pitiable, and they? 
as well as every one else, have been anxiously 
expecting to get to Banner Cove. But if all 
the rest have felt the disappointment, I have 
reason to bless God. Yesterday and to-day, 
but more especially to-day, have been the 
brightest for spiritual enlargement and joy in 
God of any I have known since I have been 
on board. Graciously, indeed, has the Lord 
blessed me, taking away every doubt, remov- 
ing every fear, confirming my hopes, and 
strengthening my heart. By his grace I have 
been able cheerfully and willingly to subject 
myself into an entire obedience, and to yield 
myself up to him, for him to do with me what- 
soever it please th him. I have seen clearly 
that all has'^been ordered of God, and that he 
will abundantly crown the work with success. 
Plainly have I seen that he who said, ' And 
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 
in all the world, for a witness to all nations, 
and then shall the end come,' hath required 
it at our hands, to plant his gospel in this the 
uttermost end of the world. And, blessed be 
God, I have experienced sensibly this day that 



102 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

I am a son of God — the Holy Ghost witnessing 
and shedding abroad the love of God in my 
heart. Sweetly have I realized that I am one 
with Christ, and have the Spirit which raised 
up Christ from the dead. Now do I feel how 
merciful the Lord is, and how tender is his com- 
passion ; and now am I able, in some poor de- 
gree, to comprehend with all saints, what is the 
love of Christ which passeth all knowledge. 
Now do I feel that the Lord hath blessed me, 
and prepared me for his work, giving me the 
whole armor of God. Now I can rejoice with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now can 
I say that the peace of God, which passeth all 
understanding, keeps my heart and mind; 
and that 

* Not a cloud doth arise 
To darken my eyes.' 

" Thursday^ December 5. — At eleven o'clock 
this morning, we cast anchor in Banner Eoads, 
having by the mercy of God arrived safe at 
our destination. The whole of last night was 
foggy, with a heavy drizzling rain, and the 
wind still ahead. The captain made short 
tacks, and with scarce any possibility of tell- 
ing whether we made any progress, or how we 
were moving. When about four o'clock it 
became clear enough to see, our position was 



THE VOYAGE. 103 

happily and providentially found to be greatly 
in advance of our expectations, with every 
certainty of continuing to make way to our 
anchorage ground. About nine, while drift- 
ing on past Picton Island, we observed lying 
off Garden Island three canoes, which pres- 
ently put off to us, each one containing a 
Fuegian and his family, more or less numer- 
ous. In each there were two women and chil- 
• dren, in one an infant at the breast, in another 
a poor decrepit old man. While scarcely dis- 
cernible with the naked eye, we heard their 
stentorian voices, shouting, ' Yammer schooner,' 
[Give me :] amazing indeed is the power of 
their voice. As they severally hove in sight, 
they gesticulated and shouted with every wild 
and remarkable expression, one man in par- 
ticular being very garrulous, and full of vivac- 
ity. The impression they made on my mind, 
as they became distinctly seen, first by the 
telescope and afterward by the naked eye, is 
one which can never be effaced. It seemed 
incredible they could be human beings. You 
observed a lop-sided, strange, uncouth thing on 
the water, not to be called a boat, and not 
realizing our ideas of a canoe, but so deep 
that just the heads of the Fuegians could be 
seen in it. As these dark masses of hair, like 
so many mops, drew nearer, we were able to 



104 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

discern the features, which were, indeed, sur- 
prising to us. On a nearer inspection, how- 
ever, I could trace in many of them, indeed I 
may say in all, the lineaments of the noblest 
humanity, and features expressive of benevo- 
lence and generosity, though, as it were, buried 
deep in deplorable ignorance and abject want. 
One woman had a remarkably prepossessing 
countenance, very open and cheerful ; so also 
had one of the men, and he often in our after' 
intercourse laughed heartily. I had taken 
some comfort to my mind, from the favorable 
aspect which the islands around us, particu- 
larly Picton and Garden Islands, presented ; 
but now my heart swelled with emotion, full 
of pleasure and satisfaction that our errand 
was for the purpose of imparting benefits so 
great and so much needed to these poor creat- 
ures. I hailed the prospect with a degree of 
rapture.'^ 

Such was the cheerful spirit with which Mr, 
Williams surveyed the field of his destined 
labors. But he made its acquaintance under 
great advantages. Being December, it was 
the Antarctic midsummer ; and, like the cli- 
mate, the natives wore their best faces. They 
wanted food and trinkets from the strangers ; 
and as long as their visitors remained on ship- 
board they were safe from tricks and violence. 



THE VOYAGE. 105 

But, before proceeding with the narrative, it 
may be well to introduce the reader to the 
place and the people. We shall thus better 
understand how arduous was the task which 
these pious pilgrims had undertaken, and shall 
be able to sympathize more fully in the great 
fight of afflictions which they were soon to 
pass through. 



106 MEMOIR OF EIOHAED WILLIAMS. 



What renders it much more diflacult to convey divine truths to the 
understandings of these Indians is, that there seems to be no founda- 
tion in their minds to begin upon. Besides, their inconvenient situa- 
tions, savage manners, and unhappy method of living, have been an 
unspeakable difficulty and discouragement to me in my work. — 
David Brwinerd. 

The outline of South America may be com- 
pared to a paper kite ; and, like a kite, there 
is attached to its apex a jointed tail, of which 
Fuegia and the South Shetlands are the only 
fragments seen above water. In other words, 
the mighty wall of the Andes is broken through 
by the sea, and the inundated valley forms 
the Strait of Magellan ; and, after a feeble re- 
appearance in the Fuegian Archipelago, the 
Cordillera is lost in the ocean. 

As seen on a school-room map, this Tierra 
del Fuego is a dim islet, deriving its chief im- 
portance from its famous headland. Cape Horn. 
On a nearer inspection, however, this nebulous 
patch resolves into a cluster of islands, one very 
large, with a crowd of smaller attendants to 
the west and south ; and, far from the main- 
land, stands the curb-stone of the New World, 
— Cape Horn with his surf-beaten pyramid. 



FUEGIA. 107 

Thougli only a fag-end of America — a mere 
caudal vertebra of the Andes — if we had it in 
Europe, Tierra del Fuego would be a country 
of some consideration. Its second-rate islands 
are larger than the Isle of Wight or the Isle 
of Man, and the surface of its mainland is 
equal to the Lowlands of Scotland. Its cli- 
mate, however, renders it one of the most 
dreary and inhospitable regions on the face 
of the globe. In a latitude corresponding to 
Edinburgh, the sky seldom clears, and the 
rainy squalls of the summer are the only re- 
lief from the sleet and snow of the winter. 
A calm sunshine is a great rarity. If we 
imagined the mountains of the Hebrides ris- 
ing to a height of six or seven thousand feet, 
with glaciers coming down to the sea, and a 
warm tide constantly flowing at their base; 
and if, moreover, we could bring the north 
polar ice into as low a latitude as the Antarc- 
tic ice descends, our own Western Isles would 
be the counter part of Fuegia. The warm 
vapor of the ocean would then be perpetually 
condensing on the frost of the hills, and clouds 
and showers would blot out from Mull and 
Skye their occasional days of clear weather. 
Even then, however, our Western Isles would 
be halcyon nests compared with this stormy 
archipelago. Nothing save a rampart of 



108 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

mountains, a mile or two in height, extending 
from the Cape Verdes to Campbelton, dam- 
ming up the winds, and forcing them to rush 
through a few funnels on the Sound of Jura, 
could give our Northern Hemisphere a fac- 
simile of a Fuegian williwaw. This ferocious 
Avind is capable of overturning almost any 
ohstacle; and, like grass in a swath, not only 
branches but whole trees will sometimes be 
found piled up at the mouth of a gully where 
its rough sickle has passed. 

Notwithstanding its boisterous summers 
and its perpetual storms, the average tem- 
perature of Fuegia is as high as Quebec or 
Montreal ; and perhaps we have in London 
days as cold as any which occur in Hoste or 
Navarin Islands. The range between the ex- 
tremes of heat and cold is small, and this 
comparative equability, along with the abund- 
ant moisture, is favorable to certain forms of 
vegetable life. In most districts of Britain 
the Fuchsia is a conservatory plant; but in 
Devonshire and in the Isle of Bute it grows 
luxuriantly in the open air, and in winter 
wants no shelter. Fuegia is one of its native 
lands, and there, along with its equally deli- 
cate companion, Veronica deeussata, it becomes 
a tree with a trunk half a foot in diameter. 
The potato is indigenous on the adjacent main- 



FUEGIA. 109 

land, although we do not know that it has 
been found in these islands, where celery, a 
species of currant, the berry of an arbutus, 
and a fungus, are the only esculents. The 
characteristic vegetation is two sorts of beech- 
tree. One of these (Fagus betuloides) is an 
evergreen ; the other (Fagus Antarctica) is 
deciduous. The latter species is more hardy, 
and can scale the mountain-sides to a higher 
platform than its glossy-green companion ; so 
that in winter a zone of leafless trees is seen 
at a lofty elevation, succeeding to the verdure 
of the forest. Except where discouraged by 
the thin granitic soil, these beeches occur 
everywhere ; and, except when stunted by the 
winds, they attain a goodly size; and one 
trunk is mentioned seven feet in diameter. 
But any tourist who expects a repetition of 
our own Buckinghamshire in the forests of 
Fuegia will be woefully disappointed. Our 
woodland scenery owes all its charm to its 
park-like variety, where clumps of many kinds 
occur ; and where, from the sylvan labyrinth, 
you easily emerge on smooth pastures and 
smoking hamlets. But it is a very different 
thing to land from a boat direct in the thicket, 
and, after struggling to the top of a Mount 
Tarn or a Mount Buckland, to look down on 
an expanse of silent greenery, only broken by 



110 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

shipless arms of the sea ; and any one who 
has spent many weeks among the pines of the 
Black Forest, or the Arbor- Vitae swamps of the 
Mississippi, will understand what an incubus 
on the spirits a monotonous vegetation be- 
comes. In Tierra del Fuego the only varie- 
gating incident is *' the bursting of the leaf 
and flower-buds of the deciduous beech from 
their resinous gummy scales, when a delight- 
fully fragrant odor pervades the woods ;'^"' 
and the explorer may be occasionally rewarded 
by coming on a Winter's Bark or some less 
usual tree. 

Land animals are few. Even insects are 
rare; and such flies and beetles as occur, are 
inconspicuous and uninteresting creatures. 
Like Ireland, Fuegia is exempt from serpents, 
and even frogs have been expelled by its St. 
Patrick. /'The gloomy woods are inhabited 
by few birds : occasionally the plaintive notes 
of a tyrant fly-catcher may be heard; and 
more rarely the loud strange cry of a black 
woodpecker. A little dusky-colored wren 
hops in a skulking manner among the en- 
tangled mass of the fallen and decaying 
trunks. But the creeper {Oxyurus Twpi- 
nieri) is the commonest bird of the country. 
Throughout the beech forests, high up and 
" Hooker's Flora Antarctica, p. 348, 



FUEQIA. Ill 

low down, in the most gloomy, wet, and im- 
penetrable ravines, it may be met with. This 
little bird no doubt appears more numerous 
than it really is, from its habit of following, 
with seeming curiosity, any person who enters 
these silent w^oods; continually uttering its 
harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to tree, 
within a few feet of the intruder's face. In 
the more open parts, three or four species of 
finches, &c., and several hawks and owls, oc- 
cur/''''^' Most curious of all is the existence of 
a humming-bird (Mellisuga Eingii) on the 
shores of this wintery realm ; and which, even 
amid the showers of snow, has been observed 
flitting about in search of the insects, equally 
hardy, that lurk in the blossoms of the 
Veronica and Fuchsia. The most important 
quadruped is the guanaco or llama, that use- 
ful compromise between the sheep and the 
camel, so characteristic of the South American 
mountains. It is found on Navarin Island, 
and on the main island, or, Tierra del Fuego 
proper. In summer shy and vigilant, the want 
of pasture drives it in the winter down to the 
valleys, where its slender legs slump into the 
snow, and make it an easy capture. Two 

'^Darwin's Voyage round the World, chap, xi, — one 
of the most charming and instructive journals ever pub- 
lished. 



112 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

species of fox occur, and these, with a few 
small rodents of the mouse and bat families, 
complete the inland zoology of this inhospita- 
ble region. 

But the waters largely compensate for the 
lifelessness of the land. With its colossal 
sea-weeds, Fuegia might well be the paradise 
of fishes. To say nothing of many beautiful 
varieties which are dredged up from the rocks 
or washed ashore by the tides, these coasts 
are the head-quarters of the Lessonia and 
Macrocystis, the two giants of the ocean Flora. 
The former is an arborescent sea-weed, with 
a trunk of concentric layers so timber-like, 
that Dr. Hooker mentions a captain who em- 
ployed a boat's crew two days collecting the 
incombustible stems for fuel. The Macro- 
cystis, instead of a trunk as thick as an or- 
dinary cherry-tree, is moored to the rock by a 
tough but slender cable, which, rising to the 
surface, breaks into leaves, and then streams 
along a luxuriant tangle for several hundred 
feet. The Victoria water-lily requires a tank 
and hot-house for its special accommodation ; 
but a prime Macrocystis would need a tank a 
hundred feet deep, and as long as Westminster 
Abbey. In general, however, its cable is only 
a few fathoms long, and as its streamers wave 
over every inundated rock, it is at once the buoy 



FUEGIA. 113 

and the breakwater of these dangerous chan- 
nels. The " moored kelp '^ warns the mariner 
of a sunken rock, and if in stormy weather his 
little vessel can only get to leeward of its 
floating acres, he may set the wildest sea at 
defiance.''^ In this way has Providence not 
only supplied the means of safety in the very 
midst of danger, but, by the same arrange- 
ment, he has prepared a source of subsistence 
for this land of famine. These gigantic sea- 
weeds are the home and the pasture-field of 
countless mollusks and crustaceans. The 
leaves are crowded with shell-fish. The stems 
are so incrusted with corallines, as to be of a 
white color. And " on shaking the great en- 
tangled roots, a pile of small fish, shells, 
cuttle-fish, crabs of all orders, sea-eggs, star- 
fish, and crawling nereidous animals of a mul- 
titude of forms, all fall out together.'^! To 
such a well-stored larder it is not wonderful 
that shoals of fishes should resort, forsaking 
for it brighter but less bountiful waters ; and 
in the wake of these fishes come armies of 
seals and clouds of sea-fowl. Among the 

"For beautiful figures and many interesting par- 
ticulars regarding these and the other Algae of Fuegia, 
the reader is referred to Dr. Hooker's magnificent work, 
the *' Flora Antarctica.'' 

t Darwin. 

8 



114 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

latter are shags, petrels, ducks, red-bills, sea- 
pigeons, geese, steamer-ducks, and penguins. 
Of these many species have their breeding- 
places on the cliffs of the desolate islands. 
With their black coats and yellow waist- 
coats, the substantial and yeoman-like pen- 
guins take up their abode on the grassy flats ; 
and in the month of January, that is to say, 
at their midsummer, a braying quack may 
constantly be heard from morning to evening, 
inviting to dainty morsels their fat and sol- 
emn fledgelings, — a dinner-bell which is never 
silent in the populous " penguinery.'' Not 
improbably with sinister designs on the in- 
fant penguins, the sea-lion is fond of a walk 
among the tufts of tussac, and, along with the 
sea-otter and the porpoise, this tyrant of the 
Southern Ocean is the great terror of the 
larger fishes. Predaceous as are the habits 
of many of these creatures, it is interesting 
to contemplate the skill and profusion with 
which a sea so unpromising is peopled. All 
are ultimately dependent on a seemingly 
worthless sea-weed. That fucus cherishes the 
worms and polypes, the crabs and corallines, 
which feed the fishes ; and these, in their turn, 
sustain legions of cormorants and penguins, 
of seals and porpoises, as well as the less 
dextrous human fishers on the shore ; so that 



FUEaiA. 115 

Mr. Darwin is probably correct in bis surmise, 
that tbe felling of a tropical forest would not 
be so fatal to animal existence as the destruc- 
tion of this gigantic "kelp.'' ''0 Lord, how 
manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou 
made them all : the earth is full of thy riches. 
So is this great and wide sea, wherein are 
things creeping innumerable, both small and 
great beasts. These wait all upon thee ; that 
thou mayest give them their meat in due sea- 
son. That thou givest them, they gather: 
thou openest thy hand, they are filled with 
good.'' 

The inhabitants of the Fuegian Archipelago 
have sometimes been called Pesherais, from 
a word which some of them are constantly 
using. In the classification of the human 
families they have been named " the Ichthy- 
ophagi," or Fish-eaters of Tierra del Fuego.'-^' 
Of course they are South American Indians, 
and tbey belong to the Araucanian division 
of the great Andian race. They are not only 
the nearest neighbors, but are undoubtedly 
of the closest kindred, to the Patagonian in- 
habitants of the adjacent continent ; but they 
are intellectually and physically inferior to 
these stately specimens of mankind. Many 

''^ See Prickard's Natural History of Man, Second Edi- 
tion, p. 450 ; and Prichard's History of Mankind, vol. v. 



116 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

of them have trunks proportionate to a six- 
foot stature ; but their indolent squatting ex- 
istence has dwarfed their extremities. Their 
color is something between dark copper and 
brown. Captain Fitzroy compares it to " very- 
old mahogany.'''-'' But owing to the wood- 
smoke with which they are saturated, the oil 
and blubber with which they are smeared, and 
the earths — white, red, and black — with which 
they are painted, it is difficult to ascertain 
exactly a Fuegiari complexion. Like their 
bodies their heads are large. These heads 
are oblate spheroids, with long jet hair hang- 
ing straight down on either side, but cropped 
away over the brow. The forehead is very 
low, but, like the face, it is broad. The black 
eyes are oval, drawn toward the temples, and 
have usually an expression of simple good- 
humor. The nose is not handsome : flat and 
thick, with large nostrils, it is concave in pro- 
> file ; and it is well supported by a mouth of 
great width, which closes in a straight line, 
and opens in an ample ellipse. The beaux 
of the antipodes do not fancy long beards, and 
what little hair shows itself on the chin or the 
eyebrows is usually extracted with tweezers 
made of two muscle-shells. As already men- 

" See Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, volume 
ii, p. 137. 



FUEGHA. 117 

tioned, from constantly crouching in their huts 
and canoes, their legs are crooked and stunt- 
ed ; but still they are by no means deficient 
in agility, and, in trials of strength, some of 
them were more than a match for an English 
sailor.-' 

Their clothing is scanty. By the same 
providential arrangement which coats the 
whale in frozen seas with oil, the Fuegian is 
fortified against his inclement sky by an 
abundant development of the adipose tissue ; 
and though his sea-otter or guanaco cloak is 
sometimes scanty, in admiring his hardihood 
we must not forget that inside his skin he 
wears a thick under-clothing of non-conduct- 
ing fat. Hence these islanders sometimes 
exhibit feats, the recital of which is enough to 
make us shiver. In the coldest midwinter 
they may be seen diving for sea-eggs ; and it 
was on a dark night, when the thermometer 
was at 28°, that some of them swam from the 
shore, and, from its moorings alongside, cut 
away the ship's boat of the Adelaide, 

Nothing can be more wretched than their 

^ For a minute description see a paper by Mr. Wilson 
in the Appendix to the second volume of the " Voyages of 
the Adventure and Beagle/^ Portraits of Fuegians may 
be seen there, and in the folio atlas of plates to Cook^s 
Last Voyage. 



118 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

habitations. When a family lands from its 
canoe, the first care of the women, who are the 
only workers, is to build a house. For this 
purpose they cut down twenty or thirty trees, 
and arranging them in a circle, with the nar- 
row ends resting on each other, like the 
sheaves in a shock of corn, they tie them to- 
gether at the top, putting a little thatch or a 
few skins on the windward side, and leaving 
one entrance toward the sea and another to- 
ward the forest. There they kindle a fire, 
and there they huddle together night and day 
in stormy weather ; and there they tarry till 
they have devoured all the food of the dis- 
trict, and it is time to seek another settle- 
ment. 

They are not without a taste for ornament, 
nor are they entirely devoid of ingenuity. 
They usually adorn their hair with a fillet 
of sinewy threads, elaborately and not inele- 
gantly plaited ; and on great occasions this 
fillet is pranked out with birds' feathers, or bits 
of red cloth obtained from the sailors. They 
are fond of bracelets and necklaces. These 
they make from shells or the small bones of 
animals ; or, failing beads and buttons, from 
little chips of crockery. When shells are 
used, they are drilled so neatly that the pro- 
cess must require both skill and care. The 



FUEGIA. 119 

Spanish voyager Cordova speaks with admira- 
tion of a sort of jar or basket which he found 
among them, entirely formed of bark, and 
with the bottom so accurately sewed in that 
it could carry water without leaking."' But, 
crazy as they are, their canoes are perhaps a 
still more wonderful specimen of needle-work. 
These also are composed of the bark of trees, 
The main bulk may be the bark of one single 
beech ; but in order to complete it, a great 
many patches and a large amount of stitching 
are requisite. With grass for oakum, and 
clay for pitch, and with thongs instead of 
nails, the builder soon finishes a boat which, 
after its own fashion, is a triumph of naval 
architecture. As long as it can carry pad- 
dlers as well as pumpers, it is considered sea- 
worthy ; but as soon as it requires all hands 
to bail it, they think it time to abandon it, 
and a new one is built or stolen. 

Although their comforts are so few, they 
are well provided with offensive weapons. 
They have spears, and bows and arrows, and 
slings which they use with such precision as 
nearly to equal in effect an ordinary musket. 
Besides, many of them are furnished with a 
Patagonian bolas — a chain-shot of formidable 
character. It consists of two round stones, 
^ Cordova's Voyage to the Straits of MageUan. 



120 MEMOIR OP RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

covered with leather, and fastened to the two 
ends of a string about eight feet long. One 
stone is held in the hand while the other is 
whirled round the head till it has acquired 
sufficient velocity, and then both are hurled 
at the object. Should it strike the legs of an 
ostrich or guanaco, it instantly twists tightly 
around them and holds the creature in fetters 
till the huntsman comes up. 

Yet, with all his weapons, it is a scanty sub- 
sistence which the Fuegian secures. The sea 
around him is teeming with food, but he has 
neither net nor angle ; and it is only when he 
is lucky enough to spear a rock-salmon, or 
when he can get a sufficiency of a little sim- 
pleton fish which allows itself to be spirited 
out of the water by a baited but bookless line, 
that this Ichthyophagous Indian deserves his 
name. But if he is not a clever fisherman, 
he is a cunning bird-catcher. In his fowling 
excursions he is attended by a knowing little 
dog, half-fox, half-terrier ; and, if it is a 
moonlit night, the sportsman may be descried 
on the beach near the roosts of the sea-birds, 
and waiting till his four-footed accomplice re- 
turns with a dead duck in his jaws, which he 
instantly deposits at his master's feet, and 
then scampers off" in search of another. This 
well-trained retriever, though an assiduous 



FUEGIA. 121 

barker at home, has the sense to carry on this 
sport in the deepest silence ; and the sleeping 
spoon-bill is jerked from his perch without 
ever dreaming of danger. They have also a 
plan of their own for catching petrels. Hav- 
ing first secured one with a string to his leg, 
they lower him into any crevice where petrels 
are known to breed. The old birds are indig- 
nant at the stranger's intrusion, and fall on 
him with such blind fury that they allow 
themselves to be drawn out of the hole, when 
they are instantly transferred* to the fowler's 
basket. But birds are not always to be pro- 
cured, and even sea-eggs are not attainable in 
stormy weather. For a great period of every 
year these poor islanders are entirely depend- 
ent on mussels, limpets, and similar shell-fish ; 
and, every time that the tide retires, the whole 
population is spread over the shore, rumma- 
ging for this sorry subsistence. Low-water is 
the meal-time of the dogs, as well as their 
masters ; and it is amusing to notice the 
adroitness with which these sharp-witted creat- 
ures detach the unwary limpet from his 
moorings. As soon as this pasture is eaten 
up, these nomads of the beach launch their 
canoes, and paddle off in quest of new supplies. 
Sometimes they are so lucky as to discover a 
stranded whale or a dead sea-lion ; and, how- 



122 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

ever " high" such venison may be, it is always 
welcome, and imparts a sudden plumpness to 
the fortunate finders. Of course, such prizes 
are rare ; and, like most savages, the life of 
a Fuegian is an alternation of occasional feasts 
with long intervals of famine. In the des- 
peration of hunger it is fearful to think of 
the expedients to which he is occasionally 
driven. There can be no doubt, however, that 
these Indians are cannibals, and that when 
other subsistence fails, " they kill and devour 
their old women before they kill their dogs.'^ 
Those who fall in battle are in like manner 
devoured by the victors. 

The intellectual capacity of these savages 
is, probably, small ; but their powers of mim- 
icry are amazing. A long English sentence 
deliberately uttered they will repeat with the 
utmost precision ; and grotesque attitudes or 
grimaces many of them can reproduce with a 
comic gravity worthy of Liston or Matthews. 
Shameless greed and systematic thieving are 
universal vices. As soon as a canoe comes 
within hail of a ship the well-known cry, 
" Yammer schooner,'' (Give me,) is set up, and 
at everything given them they clutch and 
stow it into their basket without one look or 
utterance of gratitude. Nothing escapes their 
little glancing predaceous eyes ; and, but for 



FUEGIA. 123 

the utmost vigilance, nothing would escape 
their active fingers. Once and again they 
proved too cunning for the watch of a man-of- 
war, and succeeded in abstracting valuable 
boats belonging to the surveying expedition 
of the British Admiralty ; and when a native 
gentleman had been paying a visit on board, 
before he returned to his barge, it was thought 
no breach of etiquette to examine his cloak 
for tea-kettles and other trinkets. As Mungo 
Park experienced in Africa, traces of gentle- 
ness and tenderness may be found among the 
women ; but the mercies of the men are cruel. 
On the slightest provocation, the roguish sim- 
per can be exchanged for a scowl of fiendish 
ferocity; and when exasperated, or brought 
to bay, they fight with more fury than wild 
beasts. The men are surly tyrants ; the 
women are laborious slaves. The softening 
influence of the domestic charities is scarcely 
known ; and an incident related by Commo- 
dore Byron shows the fearful moroseness to 
which depraved humanity sometimes sub- 
sides. 

" Our cacique and his wife liad gone off in 
their canoe, when she dived for sea-eggs ; but 
not meeting with great success, they returned a 
good deal out of humor. A little boy of theirs, 
about three years old, whom they appeared 



124 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

to be doatingly fond of, watching for his father 
and mother's return, ran into the surf to meet 
them ; the father handed a basket of sea-eggs 
to the child, which being too heavy for him to 
carry, he let it fall ; upon which the father 
jumped out of the canoe, and catching the boy 
up in his arms, dashed him with the utmost 
violence against the stones. The poor little 
creature lay motionless and bleeding, and in 
that condition was taken up by the mother; 
but died soon after. She appeared inconsola- 
ble for some time ; but the brute, his father, 
showed little concern about it.'' — Narrative of 
the Hon. John Byron, 1768, page 148. 

Of the religious belief of these savages lit- 
tle is known. Their divinity appears to be a 
great black man, who frequents the dim track- 
less woods of the interior, who is very malig- 
nant and powerful, and who knows everything 
that is done or spoken. They are very super- 
stitious. They have great faith in dreams. 
They will not for any consideration allow a 
stranger to cut off a lock of their hair; and 
they think it extremely unlucky to kill the 
young sea-birds. " 0, Mr. Bynoe, very bad to 
shoot little duck — come wind — come rain — 
blow — very much blow," was the solemn re- 
monstrance of one of them to a gentleman 
who had killed some very young ducklings as 



FUEGIA. 125 

zoological specimens. They never speak of 
the dead. When a boy, hereafter to be men- 
tioned, was questioned about his dead father, 
he was very unhappy, and refused to answer : 
" No good talk ; my country never talk of 
dead man." 

Imbruted as are these savages, they are 
not sunk beyond recovery. Through the 
mercy of our God, there is at this moment on 
the earth a power well able to cure the worst 
woes of Fuegia. True, they are not an invit- 
ing race ; but they are none the less a fac- 
simile of our British forefathers. Sir James 
Mackintosh was born in a northern latitude 
exactly corresponding to Cape Horn in the 
south, and his ancestors lived in a hut with- 
out window or chimney, with a fire in the cen- 
ter of the floor, with a pile of mussel-shells at 
the threshold, and with smoked fish and deer's 
flesh hanging from the rafters ; and when 
they wished to cross an arm of the sea, they 
waited for a day of calm weather w^hich would 
not endanger their wicker coracle. The an- 
cestors of Davy and Newton lived in forests 
almost as somber as the beech-woods of Nar- 
borough's Land. They wore cloaks of bull or 
badger's skin, like the otter or guanaco robes 
of Navarin Island ; and they anointed their 
persons, and pipe-clayed their faces, in a truly 



126 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Fuegian fashion. The ancestors of Wesley 
and Wilberforce worshiped a devil, and were 
glad to propitiate his wrath by flinging their 
infants into the fire. But Christianity has 
wrought for Britain the best of miracles. If 
it has not brightened the skies and converted 
these islands into new Hesperides, it has shed 
a balm into the moral atmosphere, and it has 
transformed the population. It has made its, 
as a people, honest, hard-working, and hu- 
mane. It has made a future existence a 
familiar idea, and it has made the Most High 
a not unfamiliar presence* It has given us 
tastes, aspirations, and affections, which a 
nation of atheists or pagans can never know. 
And while all this has been effected with only 
a small percentage of practical religionists in 
our population, and, we may add, with only a 
small percentage of Bible Christianity in our 
practical religion, it has done enough to teach 
us that the only thing needed to make any 
land *^ a delightsome land,^^ is the gospel in 
ascendency. 

In the year 1831 there were three Fuegian s 
in England. They were brought to this coun- 
try by Captain Fitzroy, E. N., and the hope 
was entertained that they might learn our 
language, and acquire the habits of civiliza- 
tion, so as to introduce them^ on their return, 



FUEGIA. 127 

among their own compatriots. One of them 
was a full-grown man, York Minster, a gruff 
and surly fellow, who could never be induced 
to learn anything ; Jemmy Button was a 
good-natured boy of no great capacity ; and 
Fuegia Basket was a rather pleasing and very 
intelligent girl. Considerable interest was 
felt in these visitors from the antipodes, and 
even the king and queen expressed a desire to 
see them. They were accordingly taken to 
the palace, and were received with all the 
gentle kindness so characteristic of Queen 
Adelaide. Captain Fitzroy consigned them 
to the care of a schoolmaster at Walthamstow ; 
and after a few m-onths, accompanied by Mr. 
Matthews, a missionary, he carried them back 
to their native isles. It may be questioned 
whether their residence in England was suffi- 
ciently long; and it is likely that, had a se- 
lection been practicable, more promising pupils 
might have been found than York Minster 
and Jemmy Button. At all events, the ex- 
periment was very unproductive. On landing 
in their own country, York Minster married 
Fuegia Basket, and being a powerful, resolute 
man, it is possible that he may have been able 
to preserve from his rapacious neighbors the 
implements and manufactured articles with 
which he was freely supplied. But poor 



12S MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Jemmy was soon victimized. His goods were 
stolen, and his little garden was trodden 
down ; justifying his verdict, " My people very 
bad ; no sabe nothing ; my people very great 
fool." And as the violence of the people 
forced Mr. Matthews to return on board, there 
is too much reason to fear that, left to them- 
selves, his scholars would soon relapse into the 
surrounding barbarism. 



FIRST TOILS. 129 



first %siU. 



If our lives are preserved, and our attempt prospered, we shall 
next New-Year's day be in India. "We shall no more see our kind 
friends around us, or enjoy the conveniences of civilized life, or go to 
the house of God with those that keep holy day; but swarthy coun- 
tenances will everywhere meet our eye, the jargon of an unknown 
tongue will assail our ears, and we shall witness the assembling of the 
heathen to the worship of idol gods. We shall be weary of the world, 
and wish for wings like a dove. "We shall probably experience 
seasons when we shall be "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." 
— Dr. Judson. 



When Dr. Judson wrote to his future wife the 
words just quoted, he did not know how ter- 
ribly the prognostic would be fulfilled. He 
did not foresee the perils of the Burmese war, 
and the unimagined horrors of the death- 
prison at Eangoon. And it is well for us that 
there is no Agabus to reveal the tribulations 
through which each must pass to the king- 
dom, or to set fully before us the dangers and 
hardships which attend a new undertaking. 

It was with a cheerful eye that Mr. Will- 
iams and his comrades surveyed the scene of 
their projected campaign. But, as we have 
already said, they saw it to advantage. It 
was midsummer; and, as long as the ship 
remained in sight, the natives wore their 



130 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

summer faces, and appeared mild, and almost 
friendly. The voyagers arrived in health 
and vigor ; and, in the excitement of strange 
circumstances, the perils and difficulties of 
their undertaking were materially disguised. 

It was on the 5th of December, 1850, that 
the Ocemi Queen cast anchor in Banner 
Eoads ; and, resuming Mr. Williams's Journal, 
we shall now trace the first proceedings of the 
missionary pilgrims. 

" Decemher 5. — At noon we proceeded in 
the ship's gig to a small island called Dothan, 
lying between Garden and Picton Islands. 
Captain Gardiner had fixed on it as the site 
of our intended dwelling-house, thinking it 
capable of being made peculiarly secure from 
its position and shape. Here we read an ap- 
propriate psalm, and offered prayer, and sang 
the doxology. The natives had followed us, 
and they stood gazing with wonder while we 
were so engaged. One passed into the center 
of our circle, and now and then made an ob- 
servation ; and when we sang they all joined 
heartily with us. We then took possession of 
the island, and cut away the trees for a place 
where to fix our tent ; but afterward, in the 
course of the day, upon more consideration 
given, we abandoned Dothan, and chose our 
site in Garden Island. Here accordingly the 



FIRST TOILS. 131 

ax was industriously used, and some large 
timber was cleared away. In the course of 
the afternoon, I shot a goose and a duck. In 
the course of the evening, what from being 
very tired and cold, and the rush of im- 
pressions being very great and forcible upon 
my mind, my whole body seemed to shrink 
from the hardships that were palpably before 
me ; and my flesh, with a cowardly tremor, 
seemed to protest against the difficulties, the 
trials, and the dangers. While I felt this, I 
knew it was but the weakness of the flesh ; 
and although I could not, under its present 
weariness, quiet its alarms, yet I felt a firm 
and quiet resolution, if need be, to sacrifice 
the flesh to the cause of God and humanity. 
It was a trial and a war between the two ; but 
the spirit within, strengthened by grace, offer- 
ed the flesh upon the altar of sacrifice. Praise 
God! never did I feel more sensibly how God 
provides grace against the day of trial than 
in this instance. 

" Tiiesday, December 10. — To-day the first 
opportunity presents of recording the events 
which have marked our career. On Friday 
last, early in the day, having selected a spot 
on Garden Island admirably adapted for our 
purposes, we conveyed to it bedding, apparel, 
provisions, and cooking utensils, and engaged 



132 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

ourselves most actively in clearing away a 
spot sufficienly large for our tents. These we 
erected, and by nightfall had everything pretty 
comfortable. We had two tents — one for the 
men, and another for ourselves — and between 
the two a cooking-house or kitchen, made of 
poles we had cut down and covered with oiled 
canvas. The floor of our tent was covered 
with cork ; over this oiled canvas, which thus 
made a dry place for our beds. We had also 
begun to fence around our tents, which, on the 
following day, by the assistance of some of 
our ship's company, we enlarged and com- 
pleted, so as to be surrounded on all sides 
except an opening from the beach. It was 
amusing to see us all at work, each one ply- 
ing the woodman's handicraft; right and 
left, blows were being dealt, and the entan- 
gled forest resounded to our hatchets. We 
piled up a huge fire, and regaled ourselves 
with provisions kindly sent us from the ship 
by our excellent captain. We are indeed 
greatly indebted to him for unexampled kind- 
ness, he having constantly manifested the most 
generous disposition, and an affectionate in- 
terest in all that concerned us ; ever ready to 
assist us, and most hospitably and abundantly 
entertaining us during our whole voyage. The 
name of Captain Cooper, of the Ocean Queen, 



FIRST TOILS. 133 

deserves to be remembered by us with respect, 
and affectionate gratitude. 

'' We were undisturbed by the natives the 
whole of the day, and congratulated ourselves 
on this fortunate circumstance, as we hoped, 
by their not seeing our possessions, they would 
not be so excited to molest and pilfer from us. 
By eleven at night we were all so far straight 
as to be able to retire to rest, which all of us 
did, excepting the captain and myself. We 
had agreed that each should keep a two 
hours' watch the night through, and this the 
captain proposed should be commenced by 
himself taking the first watch, commencing 
at ten o'clock every night. The captain ac- 
cordingly rigged himself in his sou'-wester 
and india-rubber overcoat and overalls ; and 
thus armed against the rain — for it was pour- 
ing with Puegian earnest- — he sallied forth ; 
and about half-past twelve I succeeded him. 

**I had not lain down, on account of the 
shortness of time before commencing my 
watch ; and now that I was alone in the dead 
hours of night, surrounded by the dark masses 
of wood on the one hand, and the rippling 
waters on the other, with the rain pouring in 
heavy showers, and after a fatiguing day, I 
could not overcome the weakness of my frail 
heart, and I felt oppressed. The time of my 



134 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

watch hung heavily upon me ; and I almost 
counted the minutes as they passed. Strange 
cries broke upon my ear : the penguin's harsh 
croak, with the shrill whistle of some sea-bird, 
and many sounds that I could scarce account 
for, all tending to give an extraordinary 
character to the scene. I felt no fear, neither 
did I wish to be differently circumstanced ; 
but I was weary, and I wished heartily for 
rest. Two o'clock came, and then was poor 
Mr. Maidment's turn. He had thrown him- 
self down on his bed with his clothes on, and 
now he engaged with alacrity in the duty 
which fell to him. Selfish nature was glad 
of the opportunity to exchange positions even 
thus with a friend and a brother, and to com- 
fort itself in the warmth and repose of bed. 
I slept soundly, and awoke the next morning 
ready to resume the labor of the day. We 
persevered all Saturday in completing our 
fence, and arranging matters to our satisfac- 
tion, and still we continued unmolested by 
any of the natives, — a matter somewhat sur- 
prising, had we not hence conjectured that 
they were going to give the intelligence of 
our arrival to others of their acquaintance. 

" Toward the evening, however, we had inti- 
mation of their approach ; and three of them, 
whom we had before seen alongside the vessel, 



IF 

FIRST TOILS. 135 

came up to us. They appeared no way sur- 
prised at what they beheld, but greeted us 
with apparent good-nature, yammer-sehooner- 
ing after everything they saw, and moving in 
a sidelong manner toward the inclosure of our 
tents, anxious to look in; but we intimated 
our disapproval of this, and they were very 
tractable. These three were very peaceable 
and quiet, imitating every word we spoke, 
catching at any oddity they observed in our 
manner or doings, and laughing, and seem- 
ing altogether so well disposed, that we had 
good hope of maintaining a friendly footing 
with them, and have no reason to fear their 
molesting us. As the evening grew late, 
Captain Gardiner made signs to them to 
leave us, intimating that it was time to go to 
sleep, by laying his head on his hand, and 
then gently directing them to the entrance. 
They readily perceived our wish, and without 
hesitation departed. 

"We had not provided meat for our food 
this day. For this purpose I went out with 
my gun, (for we have first to shoot or fish be- 
fore we can dine ;) and having brought back 
a goose and a duck, a stew was made of these, 
with the addition of some wild celery we found 
in the woods ; and having finished the day 
with prayer, we again took our repose by sleep. 



136 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

"Forcibly convinced that we ought not to 
suffer the captain to share the duty of watch- 
ing;, I beoi:p:ed him that he would allow us to 
divide it entirely among ourselves, which, after 
some trouble and entreaty, he at length con- 
sented to do. At two o'clock I was called to 
take my post. The morning was fine and quite 
light, and everything around wore a pleasing 
aspect. The two hours I now spent I trust I 
shall never forget. I felt the precious influ- 
ence of the Spirit of grace and love upon my 
heart, and never were my impressions of divine 
truths so forcible ; never did I feel more sen- 
sibly the vanity and littleness of all human 
things, save as they bear reference to the eter- 
nal and invisible kingdom of God. I was much 
affected by the thought, that what the poor na- 
tives of these islands were to us, so thousands 
and tens of thousands of the inhabitants of so- 
styled civilized lands were in God's sight — sav- 
ages in their enmity against a just, and good, 
and holy God. I clearly saw that I had not so 
much danger to dread at the hands of these 
poor wretched natives, as at the hands of pol- 
ished and civilized people : those would only 
assault my body, and rob me of a few earthly 
comforts, while the latter, by their influence 
and example, would rob me of an everlasting 
salvation. My heart, by the reflection, was 



FIRST TOILS. 137 

drawn out in behalf of my native land, and, 
alas ! I felt that there was spiritual wicked- 
ness in high places, and corruption working 
at the very core of human society. The bless- 
ing of God's presence in a holy frame of mind, 
with great joy, was felt as I never felt before 
in like manner. The time very quickly passed 
away — very differently from the night before. 
Afterward, while in bed, I was greatly led out 
in spirit to praise and bless God. 

*' The following day (Sunday) was spent 
very happily and profitably. I was engaged 
most of the day with my Bible, and in close 
communion with God, blessed in the sense of 
his presence and favor. During the morning 
services, just as we commenced them, the three 
natives we had hitherto seen came again, and 
either sat or stood at our tent door. There 
they remained, for the most part very quietly, 
while we were engaged in worship, little 
thinking how nearly they themselves stood 
concerned in what we were doing. All things 
went on very quietly, and nothing occurred to 
disturb us until late in the afternoon, when 
we were startled at the mournful yelling cry 
of some of the women ^ from their canoes, like 
the prolonged howl of a dog. The Fuegians, 
who were with us at the time, immediately 
pricked up their ears, and making signs to us 



138 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

which we understood to mean not to follow 
them, they departed in haste, and proceeded 
up to the head of Banner Cove, toward the 
outlet leading to Banner Eoads. Soon we 
perceived, by the help of our glasses, that 
some strangers were joining them. We no- 
ticed that our Fuegians took their spears with 
them before they went to meet them, and we 
imagined that the women might at first ap- 
prehend that the strangers were their foes. 

*' In the course of a few hours appeared the 
new-comers, who, we afterward had reason to 
conclude, were from INavarin Island, and of 
the Yacuna tribe. We were immediately sen- 
sible that they were altogether a different 
people from the others. Their faces were 
quite blackened over, and they were sturdy 
and audacious in their bearing, and, as we 
soon found, impudent and uncontrollable. 
Unlike the former, they were ready to resent 
every refusal of their importunate demands, 
and resisted our endeavors to keep them in 
check, looking at us with a most contemptu- 
ous and malign expression, and, by their de- 
meanor, plainly bespeaking mischief. They 
were very well made, and, but for the diabol- 
ical passions expressed in their countenances, 
really good-looking men. Like the others, 
they had the crown of the head cropped close, 



FIRST TOILS. 139 

and the fore part like a circlet of long hair 
hanging over the face. Like the others, too, 
they were perfectly naked, except the guanaco 
skin, which hung loosely over their shoulders 
and back, and which they occasionally folded 
together around their arms. Each wore a 
necklace made of small shells. With five of 
these men around us, prying into everything, 
the other three having now put on a less pa- 
cific deportment, and almost entering our tent 
by force, our situation was not agreeable. It 
required all our vigilance to watch their mo- 
tions ; and, from their whispering together, 
and theii bold attempts to look into our tents, 
we suspected that they were concocting some 
plan of attack. However, after a time, they 
left us. Captain Gardiner having very plainly 
expressed his wish to that efiect. After this 
— and upon the conclusion of a very profitable 
service, during which, as has always been our 
custom on the Sunday evening. Captain Gar- 
diner read a very excellent and encouraging 
sermon, and I read from the Scriptures and 
prayed — we set the watch and retired to bed. 
" It had been agreed that, on the least oc- 
casion of alarm, a railway whistle, provided 
for the purpose, should be blown. Accord- 
ingly, a little before four o'clock on Monday 
morning we were startled by its shrill sound, 



140 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

and were out of bed and dressed in an instant. 
The cause of the alarm was the coming of 
the two black-faced natives. It was raining 
heavily and a very disagreeable morning, and 
we were a little uncomfortable at so early an 
intrusion. The captain and Mr. Maidment, 
together with poor Bryant, who was on watch 
for the time, encountered them, I returning 
in after a while, as did the captain also. Mr. 
Maidment and Bryant, being left, had a great 
deal of trouble with them. One of them had 
the audacity to push the former quite off his 
seat, although he is a much bigger made man 
than the native himself. They also would 
have taken off Bryant's boots, had they not 
been forcibly resisted. After remaining two 
hours, they grew tired and left us. But in 
the course of the morning, while Mr. Maid- 
ment and I were out in the boat with Captain 
Cooper, the same men with some others again 
visited our tents, and so determined was their 
conduct, and so utterly contemptuous, all but 
bordering upon open hostility, that it was 
quite manifest we could no longer stay on 
shore, and Erwin came from Captain Gardiner 
with a message to Captain Cooper, asking him 
for hands to assist him, as he would at once 
strike the tents, and have all our things on 
board the boats. This was the original in- 



FIRST TOILS. 141 

tention of Captain Gardiner ; but he was anx- 
ious, while the boats were being got ready, 
and while the vessel was staying with us, to 
try an establishment on the land, so as to see 
what disposition the natives would evince. I 
was already firmly persuaded that the thing 
was impracticable, and was convinced that to 
prolong our stay another night would be at- 
tended with the loss of our property, and per- 
haps of our lives. I had only intimated these 
my apprehensions to Captain Gardiner, but 
did not press my opinion. I was therefore 
glad when I heard his determination to aban- 
don the land, and take to our boats. For 
that purpose, last evening (Monday) all our 
things were again brought on board the Ocean 
Queen, where we shall remain for a few days 
in the enjoyment of all our former comforts, 
until our boats are ready. 

"I should not omit to add that on Monday 
morning, at the moment the whistle disturbed 
me from my sleep, after some hours of troubled 
and anxious thought, I had just begun to slum- 
ber. During the night I could not but feel how 
portentous was our present horizon, and what 
dangers, difficulties, and privations awaited us 
on all hands. I greatly deplored the pressure 
of such thoughts, and resisted them over and 
over again with little success. But my com- 



\ 



142 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

passionate Jesus helped me to look up to him 
as ready to help me even against myself, and 
to offer up myself again a willing sacrifice 
unto God. In this frame of mind I had sunk 
to sleep; and when the alarm awoke me, it 
was just at the moment when I seemed to be 
hearing the songs of angels singing, ' We 
live to Christ alone ;' and 0, how heavenly 
was the impression made upon my heart ! how 
sweet the sound still ringing in my ears, * We 
live to Christ alone !^ How full of meaning 
the words, ' Angels live to Christ alone !' 
We live to him alone, so must you. Yes, yes, 
my heart, my soul responded ; by the grace 
of my blessed Saviour, I will live to Christ 
alone. 

'* I should also mention that while reading 
the Scriptures on Sunday, every word seemed 
to be a volume, and truly I could say that 
then he opened to me the Scriptures. Yea, I 
bless God, the Scriptures are become a pre- 
cious treasure to me now, and I begin to verify 
the saying of Christ, that we must sell all 
we have, before we can go and purchase the 
field containing the treasure of God's grace 
and the riches of his Son. the world and 
Christ are opposed indeed ! We must leave 
all if we would be his disciples : not that it is 
needful that we should all go into a heathen 



FIRST TOILS. 143 

land to find the preciousness of Christ to our 
souls : but that all who seek after Christ 
should in no respect be conformed to the 
world. God's love cannot be felt and known 
but where God's will is obeyed ; and his will 
requires of us, that we renounce the world, 
the flesh, and the devil, and live to God ; 
glorifying Christ with our body and soul, 
which are his. 

**0n Saturday, in company with Captain 
Cooper, we took one of the Fuegians with us 
in the captain's gig, and cruised about for 
some hours. I shot a penguin at a considera- 
ble distance oflP, and this for the purpose of 
making an impression on his mind. He 
seemed somewhat impressed with the sight 
of the wounded bird, though not much inter- 
ested in the gun, or curious about it ; however, 
he did not like that it should be brought very 
close to him, and seemed to have some fear 
of it. We took the man afterward on board 
the ship, and rigged him out in trowsers, shirt, 
stockings, coat, and cap, which one and an- 
other provided for him ; we also did the same 
for two other Fuegians, who came alongside 
the vessel in their canoes with their families. 
Afterward we took the man back w^ith us to 
our station ; gave him the bird, which, when 
some of his companions, five in all, including 



144 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

two children, joined him, he put on the burn- 
ing embers, singed the feathers, then plucked 
them, and having laid it on the fire again for 
about a quarter of an hour, it was ready cooked 
according to their taste ; and then, borrowing 
a knife from one of the men, which he was 
honest enough afterward to return, he dis- 
sected it, giving each one of the party a por- 
tion. These again bit ojBF pieces and gave 
them to each other. And thus they devoured 
the whole, without the least part being left 
except the bones and feathers, showing us such 
a specimen of rapacious voracity and expert- 
ness in dismembering and clearing the bones, 
as we had no conception of before. I also shot 
a large bird, the bald-headed vulture, which 
I gave them; this they carried off to their 
families for a repast at home. We have been 
disappointed in finding no fish in any of the 
waters about us, neither catching any our- 
selves, nor seeing any with the natives, with 
one exception only, and then only a solitary 
one. Yesterday we took courage on seeing 
some large albatrosses in the act of devouring 
a large rock salmon, which they had a minute 
or tw^o before caught. The absence of fish is 
the more important to us, as the captain, hav- 
ing observed plenty w4th the natives when he 
was here before, had fully reckoned on them. 



FIRST TOILS. 145 

and had provided no store of animal food, not 
even beef and pork. One thing more to be 
noticed now, is the remarkable aptitude of 
the people at imitation. Of this we had a 
striking instance on Sunday last, when talk- 
ing to one of the boys. Not a word we uttered, 
but he repeated it over ; not a question we put 
to him, but he answered us back in our own 
words, and imitated our every movement, so 
that it was quite ludicrous, to see the child, as 
well as tiresome to talk with him. 

'' Tuesday, Dec, 17. — In company with Cap- 
cain Cooper, we dined on shore in honor of the 
captain^s birthday, and to celebrate the nam- 
ing of a point of land after him, called Cape 
Cooper. It rained nearly all the time we were 
at dinner, but w^e proceeded therewith as coolly 
as though we had been in the sunshine — indeed 
somewhat more so.'^ 

Owing to some indispensable repairs, the 
Ocean Queen had teen detained in Banner 
Cove longer than was anticipated; but the 
time was now arrived when she must proceed 
on her voyage, and take leave of the mission- ^ 
ary settlers. They availed themselves of the 
opportunity for sending letters home ; and a 
few paragraphs from one which Mr. Williams 
addressed to his sister will interest our read- 
ers: — 

10 



146 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

" December 13. 

"You will see, my dear Anne, by what I 

nave written to C , where we now are, and 

how we are situated. You can enter into my 
feelings. You know the source which supplies 
my consolations, and the fountain whence my 
joys arise. God is all-sufficient for us, if we 
are his children in Christ Jesus, and put our 
whole trust in him. All who have hitherto 
inherited the promises have been strangers 
and pilgrims, and this, by God's grace, I am 
now. Eejoice, therefore, my dear Anne, and 
know that all things shall work together for 
my good. Be not uneasy and apprehensive 
concerning me ; but let your heart be glad 
that I am thus called to serve God and live to 
him. I believe I shall be spared to return to 
you again. But whatever be the will of God 
concerning this, we do know his will concern- 
ing our meeting together in his own presence, 
where there are pleasures forever more. Then 
all will be lasting and secure: no more change, 
no more partings ; but every tear will be dry, 
and the songs of our rapture will abound. 
The lap of comfort is too often the nurse of 
sin and sorrow, while the thorny path of duty, 
although through the wilderness, is the sure 
road to everlasting bliss, and fruitful in heav- 
enly joys. Cheer thee up, then, my dear Anne, 



FIRST TOILS. 147 

and seek with me first the kingdom of God, and 
live in the enjoyment of the love of Christ." 

" Wigwam, Banner Cove, December 18. 

'' My Dear Sister, — We have this day 
taken leave of the ship and all on board ; and 
now, with our boats moored alongside of our 
station, or rather the place appointed for it, 
and in a wigwam of our own building — made 
of trees, thatched at the sides, with a fire in 
it — not far from the wigwams of the natives ; 
with the woods of Picton Island on the one 
side, and separated from Garden Island by 
Banner Cove ; seated on the earth for my floor, 
I now write these last few lines again to say 
farewell, and to bid you God-speed. God 
bless you. All is well, dearest Anne; the 
Lord does greatly comfort and strengthen 
me. 

" I have received a very pleasing testimony 
from the captain of the ship and the pas- 
sengers and crew, who united together, and 
purchased from one of the passengers a gold 
watch, with a gold chain, a silver pencil-case, 
and a gold ring. This handsome present was 
given me to-day by the captain, in the pres- 
ence of all the company on board, with a very 
flattering memorial drawn up and read. They 
allege as the motive to this very handsome 



148 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

conduct, the services I have rendered to many 
of them ; but I can sincerely say that nothing 
was further from my expectations, and that I 
was conscious of no such desert. I simply per- 
formed a duty that devolved upon me. Sev- 
eral of the men, even the sailors, wept on my 
taking leave of them, and seemed to feel 
greatly on leaving. They also presented 
Mr. Maidment with a ring and pencil-case. 
He really deserved their esteem ; for I never 
saw any person more kind in his attentions 
to the sick, — nursing them, cooking for them, 
and assisting them at all hours of the night. 
I regard this expression of their kindness as 
a good evidence that their hearts have been 
somewhat touched by the profession we have 
made of the Lord Jesus, and I hope that the 
grace of God may more deeply and permanent- 
ly affect them. 

. " I must close. My love to C -, to moth- 
er, &c., and all my dear friends. To-night the 
ship leaves us. I shall not go on board again ; 
but a boat shall take this on board. 

" All is well, God be praised ! It is beyond 
all thought blessed to be given up entirely 
to the service of Christ. His consolations 
and the comforts of the Holy Ghost are 
infinitely precious, and far outweigh all pri- 
vations we have to encounter. 



FIRST TOILS. 149 

" Farewell, farewell ! Your ever affection- 
ate brother, Eichard.'^ 

It is the two-fold glory of Christianity, that 
it infuses fresh tenderness into the relative 
affections, and yet, when needful, it can sub- 
ordinate or supersede them. Mr. Williams 
had warm feelings naturally, and religion 
made them warmer; and the parting with 
loved friends was the sorest pang in his de- 
parture for Fuegia, But as distance did not 
impair his attachments, so these attachments 
did not weaken his zeaL He did not put his 
hand to the plow, and turn his eye to his 
English home; but, whatever might be his 
secret hopes for the future, he gave all his 
heart to the work before him. The love of 
Christ constrained him, and the sacrifice of 
earthly endearment which he had made for His 
sake, helped to render that Master's authority 
more august, and his favor more precious. 
And if it be a fine spectacle to see a home- 
sick but oaken-hearted sailor like CoUing- 
wood, sustained by a simple sense of duty — 
keeping his post one weariful year after an- 
other, when a flower from his own garden 
would have been more welcome than a forest of 
laurel, and a sight of his children more prized 
than a step in the peerage — it is surely as 



150 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

great a lesson to see the Christian missionary 
self-exiled from what he deems an earthly 
paradise, and, in a calling which admits no 
earthly recompense, bound to a barbarous 
shore by no other mooring than compassion 
for his fellow-men and loyalty to his Lord in 
heaven. It would be wrong to print the out- 
pourings of brotherly and friendly tenderness, 
and the yearnings homeward with which Mr. 
Williams^s letters overflow ; but, having been 
allowed to read them, we confess that they 
have greatly exalted the writer in our eyes, 
and have imparted to his mission another ele- 
ment of martyrdom. 

Keturning to the Journal, we resume the 
record after the sailing of the Ocean Queen : — 

*' Our ship was seen getting under weigh at 
about nine o'clock on the morning of the 19th 
December, and in a few hours we lost sight 
of her. God speed her, and all that are in 
her ! About ten o'clock on the same morning 
we ourselves prepared to leave Banner Cove, 
in search of a place where we might deposit 
some of our stores, our boats being too much 
crowded. We could not stow any in the im- 
mediate vicinity, on account of the natives. 
Accordingly we got under weigh, but the wind 
was ahead of us at first. We had to make 
several tacks, and were sometimes puzzled in 



FIRST TOILS. 151 

the attempt. My berth was in the Pioneer 
with Captain Gardiner ; but, as he required 
two of the sailors with him, I exchanged 
places with Bryant, and went on board the 
Speedwell, which was under command of Erwin, 
Badcock being with us. Thus we were divided, 
Captain Gardiner, Mr. Maidment, Pearce, and 
Bryant in the Pioneer, and we three in the 
Speedwell. The Speedwell was much the heav- 
ier laden of the two, and greatly incumbered 
with stores. In addition, we had a heavy raft 
of timber fastened to our stern, and towed af- 
ter us. I now turned to, to assist for the first 
time in the management of a sailing craft. 
I was soon able to handle the mainsheet, in 
working the boat, ' hauling aft ^ and ' slack- 
ening ofiF,^ ^brailing up^ and * furling,^ as re- 
quired ; and rigged out in most of the gear 
of a sailor, with sou'-wester, a blue serge shirt, 
and heavy sea-boots. The wind was blowing 
fresh from the N.E., with squalls of rain, and 
although somewhat gloomy the weather, and 
chilling, we set oflP in excellent spirits. After 
tacking about for more than an hour, the 
Pioneer got the start of us, by weathering on 
one tack the point of land projecting from 
Garden Island, and we lost sight of her. In 
attempting to do the same, the raft we had in 
tow came on our weather bow, while we were 



152 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

in stays, and we were driven leeward con- 
siderably. We now tried to wear. her, but, 
owing to a field of kelp on our lee bow, she 
would not go round, and we saw ourselves 
fast drifting right on the surf. We were 
startled and amazed at the suddenness of the 
danger, as well as by its imminency and great- 
ness. It was scarcely credible to our senses, 
that, in the course of a few minutes, and al- 
most at the instant of our losing sight of our 
companions, we should be exposed to such a 
peril as was now before us. All was anxiety 
and alacrity to do whatever we could. The 
anchor was hastily let go, but, owing to 
the mass of kelp and bad holding-ground, it 
came home until we were in the midst of the 
rocks. Destruction now, indeed, threatened 
us, and poor Erwin was almost beside himself. 
^ The boat, the boat will be lost !— she's done 
for, shell go to pieces !' was the poor fellow's 
repeated exclamation. We did our utmost, 
by means of the boat-hooks, &c., to keep her 
from being heaved by the roaring swell on 
the rocks. Now she was broadside, and all 
but upon them ; now her bow was really in 
danger of being stoved : we were first at one 
part, and immediately at another, our hands 
being fully engaged to keep her from striking. 
Between two and three hours we continued 



FIRST TOILS. 153 

thus, in constant and unceasing effort, till at 
length we were somewhat relieved by getting 
a spring on the cable, on which I held for an 
hour longer, while Erwin and Badcock fixed the 
boat-hooks. The wind was blowing hard dur- 
ing the whole time, with increasing blasts at 
intervals, and the surge was furiously dashing 
about us. For more than four hours together 
had we thus to contemplate the probability 
of our destruction ; and if our lives should be 
saved, yet now, separated from our companions, 
all our provisions gone, if left on shore, help- 
less and destitute, and at the mercy of the 
natives, the prospect was not pleasing. Were 
such my thoughts ? They might have crossed 
my mind. But they were not my thoughts ; 
my thoughts were altogether different. The 
grace of God so strongly supported me, that I 
felt not the least alarm, and was all along 
confident that we should again get off in 
safety. Indeed, I could not help thinking that 
I was too insensible to our danger, and too little 
affected by it. Certain, however, it was, that 
not a struggle nor one emotion of fear occur- 
red to me. I felt that, whatever the result 
might be, all would be well, for God had the 
ordering of this, as well as of any other circum- 
stance which should betide us. Poor Erwin, 
as yet a stranger to the grace of God, gave 



1 



154 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

way to passionate paroxysms of grief, not on 
account of any danger to himself, but on ac- 
count of the apprehended loss of our boat, and 
the injury we all, as well as the mission itself, 
would sustain thereby. Dear fellow ! his feel- 
ings reflected honor upon him, as well as his 
unparalleled exertions. 

"After remaining in our dangerous position 
the time before specified, a lull occurred in 
the wind, and we thought it a good opportu- 
nity to make an effort to get out, and push 
round the rocks into open water. It was, 
however, a most critical juncture, and pre- 
sented certain destruction if we failed. Fall- 
ing down before God, we sought his direction 
and help in prayer, and upon rising from our 
knees immediately proceeded to cut the chain 
cable ; but, not succeeding in this, we let it go 
altogether. And now, although destruction 
appeared inevitable, the swell launching us 
broadside with great force in the direction of 
the rocks ; yet, by the mercy of God, the dan- 
ger was averted, and, after exerting ourselves 
to the uttermost, we found ourselves outside 
the rocks and round the point. Here again 
another difficulty presented itself. Our rud- 
der had been unshipped and carried away, and, 
before we could get any command of the boat, 
the wind and tide drifted us against the op- 



FIRST TOILS. 155 

posite small island — Bound Island — when we 
had again to make strenuous efforts with our 
boat-hooks. Hardly had we escaped this when 
we touched some sunken rocks and shoal 
water, but were again mercifully preserved. 
On getting free, we took the only alternative 
left us, and ran aground on the shelving beach 
of Garden Island. Now, thank God, there 
was rest for the soles of our wearied feet. 
We hauled up the boat, and gave God praise. 
Happily at the time no natives appeared. 
Had they been present and witnessed our dis- 
tress, humanly speaking we should have been 
altogether in their power, and in all proba- 
bility must have fallen victims to their cupid- 
ity. But the providence of God was over us. 
The Lord is our shield. It was late in the 
day when we got here, and now, without any 
hope of seeing our companions this day, the 
wind being strong and against their putting 
back, we passed the night, sleeping very 
soundly till the time of high-water, about 
three in the morning, when the boat was 
again afloat, and we once more got her into 
Banner Cove. 

'' Friday, the 20th, passed, and we saw noth- 
ing of our companions till past midnight, when 
we were aroused from sleep by their shouting 
and rattling against our boat. How happy 



156 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

were we to see them returned and safe ! They 
too had their difficulties. After losing sight 
of us they had proceeded, thinking we should 
soon follow them, and after surveying several 
entrances on the north shore, had found an 
excellent harbor about twenty miles from 
Banner Cove, which Captain Gardiner named 
Blomefield Harbor, after Sir Thomas Blome- 
field, former secretary to our Society. Here 
they passed the night, remaining till the 
weather afforded them a hope of returning to 
seek after us. Shortly after our separation 
they lost both dingies which they were towing 
astern, the heavy swell having snapped the 
chain by which they were fastened. They 
found the boat not altogether fitted for sea, 
at least for rough weather, having no scuttle 
on her fore-hatchway, and leaking greatly 
from one of the bolt-holes in the knee of the 
bulk-head, which added much to their perplexi- 
ties. Captain Gardiner was, however, highly 
gratified in having found a harbor so excel- 
lently adapted for us as he deemed Blomefield 
Harbor to be, where he thought there was 
every facility to complete the fitting-up of our 
boat, and to overhaul the Pioneer for her leak, 
and likewise, as no natives were seen, where 
we might deposit our ample stores. 

^' Bent upon this, we again set out in com- 



FIRST TOILS. 157 

pany at about ten o'clock on Saturday, the 21st. 
The morning was very fine, with light breezes, 
but against us ; so that, when in Beagle Chan- 
nel, we had to tack about all day long, and 
made but little way. However, all was very 
pleasant, and we kept in company until the 
evening, when our boat, the Speedwell, got 
considerably ahead, and we at length lost 
sight of the Pioneer, We stood on our course, 
and, by the directions given, we got abreast of 
the entrance to Blomefield Harbor. Sur- 
prised, however, at the delay in the Pioneer 
coming up with us, we kept cruising about 
during the night, and seeing nothing at all 
of them, we in our turn became alarmed for 
their safety. Accordingly, about six in the 
morning, a fine breeze springing up in favor of 
our return, we put back for Banner Cove, hop- 
ing they might have returned there. Abreast 
of the cove we at first saw no indication of 
them, and were just in the act of standing out 
again for sea, thinking that somehow or other 
they must have passed us in the night, and 
got before us into the harbor, when Badcock 
got sight of the boat masts, and a flag flying 
at the top of one of them. She was but just 
visible, and we were greatly puzzled to ac- 
count for her position, as well as alarmed at 
seeing her as we thought disastrously stranded. 



158 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

We got up to her as speedily as possible. 
Blessed be God ! our first salutation from 
Captain Gardiner was, * All is right, but had 
you not come, all would have been wrong.' 
They had put back on account of the light 
wind, to pass the night in our old locality, 
and had entered by Cook^s Passage ; but the 
tide, on ebbing, had receded further than was 
expected, and had left them aground. A 
large party of the natives had come back to 
Tent Cove, and had been harassing them 
much. Just as our boat hove in sight they 
were mustering their forces, and our little 
party fully expected an attack; but if they 
had any such intention, our coming caused 
them to abandon it. Early in the morning 
the natives had quite taken our friends by 
surprise, and being ashore, they clambered up 
into the boat without there being any possi- 
bility of preventing them. At this moment, 
so critical, the captain with his little band 
kneeled down and offered up prayer to God, 
the natives standing about them ; and it was 
apparent that during the time a real change 
took place in the countenance of one in par- 
ticular of the natives, and they were all re- 
markably quiet and subdued. As soon as the 
tide was at full, the Pioneer was got off, and 
both boats got under weigh. 



FIRST TOILS. 159 

" Tuesday, Becemlei* 24. — At Tent Cove, 
early in the morning, our alarm whistle was 
blown to apprise us that the natives were 
coming off. This was about four o'clock, and 
all hands were immediately on deck to be pre- 
pared in case they meant to attack us. The 
natives consisted of eight men with their wives 
and families, in three canoes; they came along- 
side, and we deemed it prudent not to let them • 
approach so near as to be able to spring on 
board. They, however, showed no actually 
hostile spirit. We rather anticipated they 
would, especially as the night previous they 
had hung up white streamers on their canoes, 
and painted themselves white, which we under- 
stood to mean hostility ; and we did not know 
for what purpose they all were mustered to- 
gether and put off in company. As we gave 
them nothing on this occasion, but intimated 
rather our dissatisfaction with them, they 
soon left us and went out of the bay into the 
Beagle Channel. The natives being gone, 
we availed ourselves of this opportunity to get 
back our raft of timber, which was lying on 
the beach opposite their wigwams; and we 
also succeeded in recovering our chain and 
ground tackle, and also a raft which we had 
constructed in place of our dingies. In the 
evening we buried, or rather stowed away, all 



160 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

our surplus provisions, an excellent place be- 
ing found for that purpose on Garden Island. 

'' Wednesday^ 25. — Took up our position at 
Banner Cove, and overhauled the Pioneer, to 
get at her leak. Christinas day was, as 
almost every day had hitherto been since we 
got on board the boats, a day of bustle and 
work ; this was unavoidable. Our Christmas 
dinner consisted of preserved meat, and some 
wheat-meal dough with a few raisins in it, 
which we enjoyed as much as any epicure in 
England could enjoy his well-spread table and 
delicate viands. We remembered our dear 
friends, and in God's name blessed them. 

''Thursday, 26. — The natives returned, and 
came up to us in a very friendly manner, and 
we bartered with them for some small fish, 
which they had speared. 

"Tuesday, 31. — Up to the present time, noth- 
ing very material has occurred. We are now 
getting into something like settled habits, as 
respects our new quarters and altered circum- 
stances. Two things have happened of a dis- 
appointing nature. One is, that whereas Cap- 
tain Gardiner was in expectation of there being 
abundance of fish here, we find literally none, 
saving the small ones caught by the natives, 
but we do not know where they obtained them. 
The other disappointment arises from our hav- 



FIRST TOILS. 161 

ing left our stock of powder ou board, so that 
we can no longer supply ourselves with ducks 
and geese, of which there are plenty here. 
Anticipating neither of these failures, no large 
provision of animal food was mad^ ; only two 
casks of preserved meat, and one of pork, the 
latter purchased from the Ocean Queeyi, Con- 
sequently, our diet consists chiefly of wheat- 
meal and oat-meal, with rice and biscuit, 
cheese, butter, and molasses. 

" Thursday, January 2, 1851. — Yesterday 
was with me a day of humbling and bowing 
down before the Lord. Every circumstance 
that has occurred in this land of storms and 
desolation has tended to the same end — to 
humble and abase me. The natural man has 
day by day been crucified. The privation of 
accustomed comforts, the vicissitudes already 
experienced, the trying duties devolving on 
us, the dullness and great inclemency of the 
climate, the solitude of the scenery, the unin- 
viting character of the natives, and the appar- 
ent hopelessness of contending against so many 
difficulties, — all these things the flesh has had 
to be loaded with, and, together with its own 
fears and repinings, to be nailed to the cross 
and yield up the ghost, while in the room 
thereof Christ should be raised up and found 
in me the hope of glory." 



162 MEMOIR OP EICHARD WILLIAMS. 



I^fto %xuU. 



In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in 
perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the 
sea ; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and 
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. — A Primitive Mis- 



Had the funds of tbe mission admitted of the 
purchase of a vessel of a hundred tons bur- 
den, the mission party would have been com- 
paratively independent As soon as it became 
dangerous to remain on shore, they would 
have found a secure refuge on ship-board ; 
and, in the event of their provisions failing, 
they could easily have proceeded for supplies 
to Port Famine or the Falkland Isles. In 
that case, they would also have been saved 
the fatigue and anxiety of hiding their stores 
where there was great risk of the natives 
finding them ; and instead of creeping round 
these dreary coasts in boats too small to 
weather a storm, and which could scarcely 
offer them a dry berth when the day was done, 
they would have faced the blast with some 
confidence, and they would, at least, have 
lodged in comfort. 

As it was, with their shallop launches, as 



NEW TRIALS. 163 

soon as the Ocean Queen took leave of them 
they were almost as completely imprisoned in 
the Fuegian islands as was Alexander Selkirk 
in Juan Fernandez ; and to reach a Christian 
settlement across such turbulent seas, would 
have been little less than a miracle. On the 
other hand, as Mr. Eitchie represented to Cap- 
tain Gardiner, the chances of European vessels 
visiting their rendezvous were very small, 
and it would have required a powerful induce- 
ment to tempt any to such a dangerous de- 
flexion from their usual course. But with a 
noble ardor the leader of the expedition long- 
ed to enter on his cherished project. He 
knew that there were fish in the sea, and 
abundance of birds on the shore. He had 
with him provisions for six months ; and be- 
fore these should be expended he calculated 
on fresh supplies from England. And al- 
though none knew better the wildness of 
these waters, should it be found impossible to 
propitiate the natives, he trusted that on 
some unfrequented coast, or afloat in some 
tranquil cove, he and his comrades nciight hold 
out till more eflectual means were placed at 
their disposal. 

Already, however, several elements in this 
calculation were annihilated. To say nothing 
of the unsuitableness of low-decked boats, 



164 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

whose iron roofs condensed the vapor and kept 
a perpetual rain dripping on the berths and 
floors, their serviceableness from the first was 
materially impaired by the loss of the two 
'' dingies/^ which were intended as a commu- 
nication between the launches and the land. 
By a fearful oversight the gunpowder was left 
in the ship, and it was now on its way to San 
Francisco ; and although there were fowling- 
pieces and good marksmen in the party, they 
had less power to secure the game with which 
they were surrounded than the savages who 
had nothing but tiieir slings. And, although 
they had brought with them a net, this also 
they were destined to lose ; so that, in a cli- 
mate beyond all others requiring warm shel- 
ter and generous diet, these devoted men soon 
found themselves without cordials, without 
animal food, without dry clothing, without a 
single material comfort. 

But not to anticipate the narrative, we re- 
sume the Journal of our meek and cheerful 
missionary : — 

^'Lennox Cove, Wednesday/, Jan. 8, 1851. — 
Another eventful period has elapsed, and in- 
troduced new scenes, and brought fresh trials*; 
but, praise God ! the good providence of God 
has been marvelously manifested. As pre- 
viously mentioned, the natives caused us some 



NEW TRIALS. 165 

alarm, by their mustering together at an early- 
hour on the morning of Tuesday, the 24th De- 
cember ; but we could not be sure, though we 
had a strong suspicion that their intentions 
on that occasion were hostile. They passed 
on, and did not return till Thursday, the 26th, 
when they showed a decidedly pacific spirit, 
but we were surprised to see nothing more 
of them after that time. We did not know 
whether they left the Cove the same evening 
or the morning following ; nor did we know 
their motive for leaving again. It might be 
that they were planning some mischief against 
us, or it might be that they were going to fish. 
We, however, cheerfully intrusted our keeping 
to God, and determined to wait the order of 
events, and to act as circumstances should 
direct. 

" That the Fuegians were not to be trusted, 
and that our property was a great excitement 
to their cupidity, and that they would go any 
length to gain possession of it, we were now 
well assured. The art of dissimulation is 
very perfect among them : when they were 
few in number, and while the ship was present, 
their demeanor was quiet enough ; but when 
they were upon a par with us, the ship being 
gone, matters were altogether altered. 

'' The boldness and troublesome conduct of 



166 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

the party who disturbed us while in our tents 
on Garden Island, afforded us one striking 
instance of their disposition. On that occa- 
sion, there were only three or four of them ; 
yet we had some difficulty to keep them from 
thrusting themselves into our tents, and repeat- 
edly since then we have had occasion to notice the 
haughtiness of their bearing and the forward- 
ness of their conduct. This was more particu- 
larly the case with the individual whom, for 
the sake of distinction, we named ' Jemmy.^ 
This man was very well formed and featured, 
and most active in his habits : unusual energy 
and quickness of mind were very perceptible 
in him. But all this was for evil, and not for 
good : he was the ringleader, and acted in 
some measure as chief. He was a daring and 
determined spirit, and his pride and conse- 
quence were exhibited in his rejecting with 
contempt anything of a trifling character, 
while he showed sound judgment in apprecia- 
ting aught of a useful nature. On one occasion 
he passed back a preserved-meat can, which 
the others always gladly accepted ; and unless 
it was a knife, or a nail, or something of the 
sort, which was given him, a withering smile 
passed across his lips. If we might judge by 
the working of his features, his opinion of us 
was altogether contemptuous. 



NEW TRIALS.. 167 

*^A rather singular circumstance is con- 
nected with the coming of this individual and 
his party, which happened on the Sunday even- 
ing, while at our tent as before mentioned. 
It was then that the peculiar and dismal 
yelling cry, a loud and prolonged wail of the 
women in their canoes, moored to the kelp, was 
set up. We also thought that this ' Jemmy,' 
as we called him, was in all probability ac- 
quainted with a spot where we found the 
mutilated and charred remains of a human 
body, the skin of the head and face being un- 
destroyed ; and we were not without a sus- 
picion that he might be the perpetrator of 
this work of malevolence. A sling was found 
near these remains. 

"Another thing to be noticed in * Jemmy' 
was his frequent change of complexion. At 
first he and his companions were painted 
black ; this was afterward exchanged for white 
streaks, and then gave place to a very taste- 
fully executed ornamental painting of white 
dots very orderly arranged. One of his two 
wives, as we suppose the young women to be 
who were generally in his canoe with him, 
was painted precisely like him^ which we 
took to express his favor toward her. Both 
these were finely-made persons, and really 
good-looking ; they had each an infant at the 



168 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

breast. I have been greatly struck with the 
quiet and easily-abashed deportment of these 
young persons, and with their utter subjection 
to their master. * Jemmy/ however, appeared 
to treat them kindly ; and Avhatever beads or 
light articles we gave him, he handed to these 
companions. 

*' After some days had elapsed, the natives 
returned on Saturday morning, January 4, 
about seven o'clock. The signal was given 
by our look-out, and ' Jemmy' and some others 
of our old acquaintance were soon alongside. 
But we found that others, to the number of 
eight canoes, were coming in sight ; and as 
there are usually two men, and sometimes 
more, in each canoe, we knew that their 
strength was greatly superior to ours. Cap- 
tain Gardiner got his glass, and he plainly 
enough saw that they were come purposely 
to attack us, as they were well provided with 
their war spears ; and, moreover, they were 
taking in stones from the beach, the most cer- 
tain evidence of their hostile intentions. No 
time was now to be lost, and with all speed 
both boats were got under sail. 

'* Several circumstances here are to be re- 
corded of the mercy of God to us Had we 
been lying in Tent Cove, as the day before it 
was proposed we should, we never should have 



NEW TRIALS. 169 

got out of it in time. Or had we had our 
tents rigged, as we all along had until two 
days before, when the high winds compelled 
us to take them down, we should not have 
been able to get the boats ready soon enough. 
Or had we not had moorings independent of 
our anchors, which we had but just been able 
to provide, we might not have been able to 
weigh our anchors in time to escape. And, 
lastly, had not a breeze sprung up just at the 
very minute we wanted it, we could^ not have 
got out and prevented the attack. As it was, 
we were able, by God's good and merciful 
care, to get out before they had time to in- 
close us. 

** The marks of disappointment and chagrin 
were but too evident in their manner, when 
they saw us safely passing beyond their reach. 
It was a merciful manifestation of God's care, 
and truly he answered our trustful expecta- 
tions and dependence upon him. Had we 
been well armed, and come to open conflict 
with them, our chance of success had been 
poor ; but to resist them and to do them harm, 
would have been as great an evil, and as deeply 
to be regretted by us, as our receiving bodily 
injury from them, and would have occasioned 
a double necessity for flight. I had made this 
very thing a special subject of prayer ; for the 



170 MEMOIR OP RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

thought of injuring them, even in self-defense, 
is horror to my feelings, neither do I think I 
could lift up my head any more, were such 
a thing to happen. In our sudden flight we 
had to cut away the raft we had built as a 
substitute for our dingies, as well as the haw- 
ser by which we were moored. We were also 
in the exigency unprovided with water, having 
but a day's allowance or so with us, and with- 
out wood for our fire. The captain thought 
our only course was to go again to Blomefield 
Harbor, the same place we had tried to reach 
before ; but on getting out into the bay, it was 
clear we could not attempt it, the boats not 
yet being properly rigged, their scuttles not 
being on, and without bulwarks, — the spindles 
of both rudders being broken, and having no 
other wherewith to replace them. We there- 
fore determined to sail eastward, and shaped 
our course accordingly, under favor of a fine 
fresh breeze from the west. On making the 
south-east point of Picton Island, we sought 
to find a cove on the south side, but in vain ; 
and about noon, a dead calm coming on, we 
lay for some time anchored to the kelp. Here 
Captain Gardiner offered up a prayer to God, 
in gratitude for our merciful deliverance. 
While we were lying here, the captain ex- 
pressed himself as being now entirely left to 



NEW TRIALS. 171 

the directing hand of God, and that nothing 
remained for us but to leave it to his good 
providence to direct us where next we should 

go- 

" His original intention of fortifying Dothan 

Island, as he proposed in that case calling it, 
but which was afterward, on the abandonment 
of the scheme, called Eound Island, had been 
frustrated ; as had our effort to take up our 
abode in Picton Island, and our several efforts 
to find a suitable spot on the north shore of 
the mainland, particularly our purpose to 
reach Blomefield Harbor, which the captain 
thought so admirably suited to our wants. 
In fact, we had devised nothing that had 
issued in success, and we seemed to be getting 
disastrously crippled ; being now without means 
altogether of getting ashore, unless unusual 
facilities should be afforded in the character 
of the harbor. New, Navarin, and Lennox 
Islands, remained for us to go to. Navarin 
had the disadvantage of being peopled thickly 
with the natives, but the light breeze which 
after a time sprung up seemed to determine 
in its favor. We accordingly for some time 
pursued our course for Navarin Island; bat 
about midnight it fell calm, and continued so 
till near three o'clock, when a breeze from the 
N. AV. sprung up, which soon increased to a 



172 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

heavy gale, and now, wind and tide against 
us, and unable to beat through the channel, 
we bore up for Lennox Island. We ran before 
the wind, passing every creek and cove, in 
search of a suitable place for anchorage, and 
between nine and ten, on the Sunday morn- 
ing, Jan. 5, arrived off Lennox Harbor. We 
anchored during that day in the harbor, and 
next morning weighed for the purpose of 
grounding the boat. The wind being ahead, 
we, that is, the Pioneer, were just on the point 
of running in on the beach, when the wind 
taking her aback, she was driven among a 
reef of rocks, and escaped destruction as by a 
miracle. A sharp-pointed rock was j ust cleared 
by her, and her quarter was in imminent dan- 
ger of being stove in on another mass of rock. 
She, however, ran on a little sandy bed, and 
escaped all the rocks most marvelously, so 
that afterward, when the tide had ebbed, we 
were astounded to see how remarkable her 
escape had been. .It was rather singular, 
that just at the moment I heard her bouncing 
against the ground, I was calling on the Lord 
in my morning prayer ; and though conscious 
something was wrong from the hasty move- 
ments and anxious expressions overhead, yet 
I was assured of our safety, and altogether 
without any perturbed feelings. 



NEW TRIALS. 173 

** The Speedwell took the land where it was 
proposed she should, — the beach, happily a 
sandy one, aflfording very favorable means of 
getting ashore. There was nothing very in- 
viting in the appearance of Lennox Harbor, 
or the island ; but a re^ing-place from storms, 
where we could lie some time undisturbed by 
the natives, and complete our boats, was very 
desirable, and we felt truly thankful when 
we saw neither wigwam nor natives in the 
harbor. 

*' The day after our arrival here, we found 
that we could not get either boat afloat, the 
tide on the previous morning being higher 
than usual, owing to the force of the tempest, 
and it being the second or third day after 
spring-tide. We must now wait till the next 
spring-tide, some nine or ten days, and if na- 
tives come, we can't flee from them. Bless 
the Lord ! his hand has some secret but wise 
purpose here. We shall see by and by what 
it means. 

" Thursday, January 9. — Last night I re- 
markably experienced the force of St. Paul's 
words, Eph. iii, 16. I literally felt the might 
of Christ strengthening me by his Spirit in the 
inner man. A powerful temptation to view 
our present circumstances with apprehension 
was forced into my mind. I felt that it was 



174 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

a device of Satan, and I instantly fastened 
my hold on the Lord Jesus. Delightfully did 
I feel that, leaning on his power, I feared no 
evil; and, with a sense of his presence to 
cheer and bless me, I had * a heart for any fate.' 
Never did J experience so vividly that it was 
not I myself, but ' Christ in me,' that won the 
victory ; or rather, that it was faith which 
seized hold on Christ's right arm, and thus 
wrought the triumph. I seemed at the time 
as if, in my complete nothingness, I had a 
power in my hand with which I could resist 
the devil, and stand firm against all his wiles. 
"Friday, January 10, Eleven P. M. — I bless 
and praise God that this day has been, I 
think, the happiest of my life. The fire of 
divine love has been burning on the mean 
altar of my heart, and the torch-light of faith 
has been in full trim, so that I have only had 
to wave it to the right hand or left, in order 
to discern spiritual things in heavenly places. 
With it this poor heart of mine, that so long 
has been a dark cavern, wherein with mourn- 
ful consciousness of sin and vileness I have 
withdrawn myself and fainted at the rebuke 
of the Lord, has now been lighted up, and 
shown to me both swept and garnished, 
sprinkled as it is with the blood of Christ 
Jesus> And now it is made a temple-shrine 



NEW TRIALS. 175 

for an indwelling God. And lo ! I have come 
out from my darkness, and am made light in 
the Lord, and, like Elijah standing on the 
mount hefore the Lord, I no longer pine in 
the sadness of gloom and disappointment, as 
not understanding * the ways of God with 
men,^ and his providential as well as his spir- 
itual guidance of his children; but awaken- 
ing up from my reverie, and finishing my 
journey in the wilderness, I learn how great 
is the mystery of godliness, and how needful 
is the chastening of the Lord to his children, 
while as a Father he afflicts us for our profit, 
and humbles and abases us by the rod of his 
hand, and gives us to feel our poverty of 
spirit, our helplessness, and unworthiness, as 
a needful preparation to our beholding his 
glory, and hearing the still small voice of his 
love. To-day, the voice of the Lord has 
sounded in my ears, ' Come up hither ;^ yea, 
I have ascended up on high, and dwelt with 
God in love. Now, now, now, the Lord Jesus 
is in me the hope of eternal glory. 

'^ Saturday, Jan. IL — Another day of joy 
and peace, and sweet communion with my 
Lord. During the evening had a very sweet 
season with the men in prayer, each one, 
after the good old Methodist fashion, pray- 
ing. Bless God ! it was a favored time. The 



176 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Spirit of God was with us, and we sang to- 
gether with heart and voice. Erwin is, thank 
God ! laboring under deep conviction and peni- 
tential sorrow for sin. I have no doubt now 
of his soon being one with us. This is indeed 
a matter of praise to God.'' 

The present circumstances of the mission 
party were very critical. Their boats were 
aground, and there was no prospect of getting 
them afloat for a week. And to make the 
peril imminent, two of their number returned 
from a walk with the tidings that there were 
natives in the adjoining cove. But amid 
these dangers and disasters a holy joy was 
filling the mind of Mr. Williams, and ren- 
dering him forgetful of every temporal evil. 
The only member of the expedition of whom 
he stood in doubt was becoming '' a brother 
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ ;'' 
and, under the teaching of the Comforter, his 
own spirit was surcharged with those sublime 
realizations which render the believer more 
than heroic. It is thus that he writes in his 
Antarctic Patmos : — 

"Monday, Jan. 13.— -Last night I was awak- 
ened by thoughts crowding into my mind. 
The eye of faith ran over the foundations of 
its hope, and discovered such glorious marks 
of everlasting stability. I saw a necessity for 



NEW TRIALS. 177 

the "atonement in the astonishing baseness to 
which our nature had fallen, and for the power 
and wisdom engaged in our restoration being 
nothing short of God — the eternal God mani- 
fest in the flesh. As clearly as I perceived 
that body and soul make one man, so clearly 
and certainly did I see that God and man 
make one Christ — ' the Wonderful, the Coun- 
selor, the Mighty God^ the Prince of Peace/ 
Now my soul drank plentifully of the streams 
which make gl^d the city of our God. Every 
feature of the divine sacrifice acquired addi- 
tional value in my eyes. I bowed before the 
Lord, and humbled my soul before him who 
saith of himself, * I am he that liveth, and 
was dead ; and behold, I am alive forever 
more, Amen ; and have the keys of hell 
and of death.^ I felt that the inestimable 
price of my Saviour^s blood was put into my 
hand. I could not tell nor count the riches I 
was worth ; yea, I could scarce grasp the 
thought that all this was mine. But God 
strengthened my faith again, and I realized 
the glorious truth that with such a price in 
my hand I could hiy all heaven and all the 
promises of God. I did apply the golden key 
to heaven\s treasury, and with it opened the 
storehouse of God^s exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises. With glorious light stream- 
12 



178 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

ing in my face, and my heart dancing for very 
joy, I saw such a meaning in the words. 
* Grace reigns through righteousness unto 
eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord,^ as 
filled me with 'wonder and ' great admiration.' 
Indeed, I was lost in wonder, love, and joy. 
Grace - reigns ! Mercy is on the throne of 
Omnipotence ! Love is exalted, — to do its 
own will, to follow its own promptings, to 
give out of a full hand, to bless according to 
its boundless charity. Grace reigns ! Jesus 
is enthroned ! He who loved us and gave 
himself for us, has all power in heaven and on 
earth, and is ascended to give gifts unto men, 
and to dispense eternal bliss to his redeemed 
people. What I saw and felt of Christ's love 
no tongue can tell. Heaven was begun below. 
How long I continued* feasting on such a feast 
of fat things, and on this ' wine of the king- 
dom ' well refined, I cannot tell ; but some 
hours must have passed, for with the exertion 
of the spiritual and mental energies nature 
was all but exhausted. I was just on the 
point of dozing, when the imagery of Israel 
singing in the wilderness was presented to 
me : * I will give her her vineyards from 
thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of 
hope : and she shall sing there, as in the days 
of her youth, and as in the day when she came 



NEW TRIALS. 179 

up out of the land of Egypt." Hosea ii, 15. I 
recognized the promise, and, while praise 
swelled upon my lips, melody was made in 
my heart, and I felt the blessedness of an in- 
timate communion with those who sing the song 
of Moses and the Lamb. 

" glorious hope of perfect love ! 
It lifts me up to things above ; 

It bears on eagles' wings ; 
It gives my ravished soul a taste, 
And makes me for some moments feast 

With Jesus' priests and kings. 

** that 1 might at once go up ; 
No more on this side Jordan stop, 

But now the land possess : 
This moment end my legal years ; 
Sorrows and sins, and doubts and fears, 

A howling wilderness ! 

" Now, my Joshua, bring me in. 
Cast out thy foes ; the inbred sin. 

The carnal mind, remove ; 
The purchase of thy death divide. 
And 0, with all the sanctified 

G-ive me a ' lot ' of love ! 

" Yesterday I held a prayer-meeting in the 
morning with the men ; in the evening I read 
to them one of Mr. Wesley's Sermons. Dear 
Erwin is thirsting after the righteousness 
which is of God. I am delighted to see his 
humble and contrite spirit before the Lord. 



180 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Bless God ! he is not far from the kingdom of 
heaven. 

''Lennox Sarhor^ Saturday, January 18. — 
Come to-morrow, (Sunday,) we shall have been 
here just a fortnight. Many have been the 
mercies we have experienced since coming 
here. In our utterly helpless state, both boats 
aground, and the tide not reaching anything 
near to them, we day by day verified the 
gracious and merciful protection of God^s 
providence in keeping the Fuegians unap- 
prised of our situation, and hindering their 
coming. We did not expect to get off before 
the return of the next spring-tide, which 
would be at least ten days ; and during this 
time, of course, there would be many possi- 
bilities of our situation being discovered. 
Jammed as the Pioneer was among the 
rocks, so that any one bent on doing us an 
injury could stand right above us ; and to 
this add the weakness of our small party ; 
and to human thinking, no position could 
present more occasion for apprehension and 
anxiety. But I believe not one of our party 
felt either ; or if any one of us did, there was 
at least no indication of it ; but our solicitude 
was hushed into repose by our hope in God. 
The boats were separated at some distance 
from each other, and we thus made two par- 



NEW TRIALS. 181 

ties. It was to me a favorable occasion for 
pressing on the men the need they had, to- 
gether with myself, of doubling our diligence 
to ' make our calling and election sure ;' and 
of uniting with them in fervent prayer unto 
God. The special presence of the Lord was 
felt on two occasions, while we held prayer- 
meetings. I have great hope of dear Erwin, 
that God will make him a blessing to us and 
to himself. It is this coming to the vital 
matters, and urging on the soul an imme- 
diate consideration of the truth as it is in 
Jesus ; pressing home the conviction, at the 
same time carrying help to the stricken peni- 
tent, encouraging him to seek, and helping 
him to find, according to God's promise, a 
present salvation — it is this which makes 
such a material difference between our Meth- 
odistic mode of procedure and that of many 
other denominations of Christians. Many 
brands are thus plucked from the burning, 
who, according to a more formal mode of ad- 
ministering the things of God, might never 
have been saved." 

Captain Gardiner and Mr. Maidment were 
members of the Church of England, and, in 
the hope of its being eventually taken up by 
some Church Society, it was agreed that the 
Fuegian Mission should be conducted on 



182 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Church-of-England principles. This arrange- 
ment was with the entire assent of Mr. Will- 
iams ; but it is not wonderful that reminis- 
cences of love-feasts and class-meetings should 
have mingled with his adopted Churchman- 
ship. And having in his three Cornish breth- 
ren so many live coals, it was all the easier to 
set the fire a burning. His faithfulness and 
fervor were, we trust, blessed to the salvation 
of the only member of the expedition who had 
not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious. In 
being thus instant in season, Mr. Williams 
set an example to every Christian ; even as 
the personal urgency which Mr. Williams 
justly claims as a distinction of Wesley an 
Methodism, is a lesson to all the Churches. 
But, to return to Lennox Harbor and our 
interrupted narrative :— 

" On the day of our arrival we saw two fine 
Fuegian dogs, which led us to expect that the 
natives were not far off. In the course of the 
week we saw the dogs again, but still no 
natives. In the neighboring cove there was 
a well-built wigwam, and an enormous pile 
of mussel-shells, the work, I should think, of 
many generations. Here, too, not far from 
the wigwam, we found human remains — a 
skull and bones of the extremities. In the 
cove on Sunday last, the 12th, we saw a 



NEW TRIALS. 183 

canoe, and the smoke issuing from a wig- 
wam ; but when we looked the next day the 
natives were gone. We were well pleased to 
think they had not perceived us. 

" Day after day we waited patiently for 
the moon to enlarge her borders and ap- 
proach to full, that we might, by the spring- 
tide, get our boats off. On Wednesday we 
dug away the sand from under the Speed- 
ivelVs keel, and tried, by tackles and rollers 
under her, to get her nearer the sea, that we 
might make doubly sure of success. How- 
ever, this was a vain effort, the weight of the 
iron decks rendering it utterly impracticable. 
We made greater efforts the next day, turning 
in a stream of fresh water, and damming it 
up around her, and then using the lever and 
rollers as before ; but with no avail. The 
captain thought that the moon was at full 
that day ; and as the tide was still deficient, 
not more than reaching to the stern of the 
Speedtvell, which was nearest the sea, he con- 
sidered that we had little hope of getting off 
at all, unless a similar combination of cir- 
cumstances should occur, as was the cause 
of our driving so high upon the beach, name- 
ly, a gale blowing from the N. N. E., and a 
high spring- tide. 

*' Friday, the 17th. — I awoke, and sweet was 



184 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

the communion of my soul with the Lord in 
prayer. I felt that I could trust God, yea, 
for all things. It was sufficient for me to 
know that my God ordered all events, and 
that he had all power to do whatever pleased 
him. While thus hanging upon him, it sud- 
denly occurred whether I could believe that 
we should get out of our present difficulties. 
Faith unhesitatingly replied, Yes. But when? 
when wilt thou get out of them ? When it 
shall please God. ' Couldst thou not believe 
God was able to send his water high enough 
to float the boats this very morning T Yes, 
replied Faith. I could believe it without a 
doubt. *But now?' said the same questioner 
within me. ' Now,' I thought, ' now ?' It re- 
quired only the pause of a moment to answer, 
* Yes, now. I do believe that God will send 
his water this very morning, and float the 
boats, that we shall get offi' A wondrous 
power constrained me to believe it. It was 
no act of my natural, fleshly mind, but the 
Spirit of God gave light to see the Lord's 
will, and that therefore I might believe he 
could precisely do what he suggested to me 
to • believe. Scarce had the assent of" my 
faith been given when I heard one of the 
men, who had just got up and gone on deck, 
say, ^ She is. afloat!' From any natural 



1 



NEW TRIALS. 185 

ground I had not the slightest suspicion, 
much less intimation, of the fact. It was 
not long afterward that our boat, (Pioneer,) 
which had so dangerously entered among the 
rocks, bat as wondrously escaped injury from 
them, was once more in open water, and safe. 
The Speedivell was also sufficiently surrounded 
with water to have enabled her to float, only 
that the rollers which were under her raised 
her considerably, and did not allow of her 
getting off. This, however, she did the next 
day, (Saturday,) the rollers having been taken 
away. And thus once more we were out of 
our difficulties. 

" The natural cause of this singular rising 
of the tide, contrary to our expectations, was, 
that here the difference between two tides is 
very remarkable, and it being so low the day 
before, we did not see any probability of there 
being a rise so much above the level of what 
it was only a tide or two before. 

" As it was impracticable for us to continue 
any longer in Lennox Harbor, it being too 
exposed for us to ride safely at anchor, our 
tackling being not strong enough, and we 
had had enough of beaching the boats, we 
were fain to seek new quarters. Some few 
days before, the captain, with Mr. Maidment, 
had walked across the country to explore for 



186 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

a fresh cove, and found one which promised 
to answer well, and to which he gave the 
name of Mercy Cove. Thither we now di- 
rected our course. 

" During the first week of our residence at 
Lennox Harbor, with the exception of seeing 
the two dogs, which crossed the beach, and 
barked at us on two different occasions, we 
had no reason to think natives were near us. 
On Tuesday the 14th, a party came to us. 
It consisted of two men, and we believe one 
family. They were very quiet and docile, 
and one of the men very good-looking, 
with good feelings exhibited in his peaceful 
and pleasant countenance. It seemed quite 
unwarrantable and uncharitable to think evil 
of him, or to suspect he would do us harm. 
The child they brought with them was a very 
interesting little vivacious fellow. The father 
was most careful of him, and scarcely allowed 
us to handle him. He was well wrapped up 
in skins. All this was pleasing, and it is a 
pleasing trait — conspicuous in the Fuegian 
character, as far as we have yet been able to 
judge — their fondness for their children. As 
these were the only party that we saw while 
we were in the harbor, we were very easy as 
long as they continued with us. We could 
not tell, however, but that they might go 



NEW TRIALS. 187 

oflF for others. They did leave us on the 
Friday, but came back on the following 
morning, and again in the course of the 
morning left us. ' 

" Late on Saturday afternoon, at high 
water, after experiencing fresh difficulties in 
getting our boats over the irregular sand- 
banks in our way, and grounding repeatedly, 
at length we found all right, and shaped our 
course for Mercy Cove, a few miles south of 
Lennox Harbor. When abreast of a cluster 
of islands adjacent to Luff Island, we saw a 
large body of natives on the beach to the 
left of us, and our old acquaintance of 
Lennox Harbor on the island to the right. 
They were engaged in fishing or hunt- 
ing seals, which were very plentiful near 
to the spot. They no sooner caught sight 
of us than, as usual, the uproar was great ; 
shouting and gesticulating were the order of 
the day. Canoes immediately put off, and 
they paddled away with a speed which ex- 
ceeded all our previous thoughts of their 
skill. We were now within a short distance 
of Mercy Cove ; but it was evident that if 
we proceeded, the whole of the large party, 
consisting of about five-and-twenty persons, 
would follow us, and we should be at their 
mercy. We therefore regretfully turned back 



188 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

upon our path, and cast anchor in Lennox 
Harbor. 

''Next morning, Sunday the 19th, just a 
fortnight after our first arrival in the harbor, 
the captain thought it advisable to get under 
weigh again, with the intention of going to 
Cape Eees or Blomefield Harbor. His reason 
was, that he felt sure the natives would fol- 
low us, and we should not be able to spend a 
quiet Sabbath where we were ; and he thought 
it very desirable that we should get off early, 
and arrive at our fresh destination, wherever 
that should be, early enough to hold our re- 
ligious services. We weighed anchor, there- 
fore, soon after four o'clock ; with a wind at 
first light and favorable, and a promising 
morning. However, we had scarcely got into 
Oglander Bay, when the wind freshened and 
became dead ahead. We consequently beat 
about, still persisting in our intention. While 
tacking, the two boats ran foul of each other, 
and carried away our bowsprit, doing some 
slight injuries also to the Speedwell. It was 
a time of great danger, and the wonder is 
that one or both of us had not our bows stove 
in, — the rudder of the Pioneer not being sea- 
worthy. We therefore bore away for Lennox 
Harbor, and reached it again. As we entered 
the mouth of the harbor, the wind being right 



NEW TRIALS. 189 

ahead, and our bowsprit and jib having been 
carried away, we missed stays, and were 
obliged to run an anchor out in haste to keep 
ourselves off the rocks. Our position was a 
fresh instance of imminent peril. The wind 
now blew a hurricane ; and at first our anchor 
dragged, and we were threatened with destruc- 
tion ; but the kelp did us good service, and 
we held on. Nearly the whole day the piti- 
less blasts smote us, and the foaming water 
raged around us, the dark clouds pouring on 
us their pelting hailstones and deluges of rain. 
It was really fearful. We were anything but 
sheltered, being nearly at the entrance of the 
harbor, and within thirty or forty feet of the 
rocks, against which had we dashed, we must 
inevitably have been lost. But God in his 
providential mercy was with us. We all felt, 
however, that we had done wrong in getting 
under weigh on the Sunday morning ; and 
greatly did I feel relieved when I heard the 
captain say that he also felt it wrong. ' Nev- 
er,^ said he, ' never have I commenced a voy- 
age or a journey on the Sabbath before, and 
this shall be the last time.^ 

''Reliance Cove, Wednesday, January 22. — 
On Monday following, the 20th, we again got 
under weigh for Blomefield Harbor, the day 
being fine. Our doing so was contrary to the 



190 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

impression I had derived from what had oc- 
curred on our former attempts. However, I 
gave no expression whatever to my thoughts ; 
and there were such great advantages to he 
reaped from the nature of the harhor, the se^ 
renity and completeness of the shelter, that it 
appeared very desirable we should go there. 
In our way to it we passed, about midday or 
somewhat later. Cape Eees, where a snug cove 
seemed to invite us in, and the wind falling 
calm, we dropped almost into the opening of 
it. Nothing, however, would do but Blome- 
field ; so on we went as soon as the wind 
sprung up. 

'' We arrived off Blomefield Harbor at half- 
past eight o'clock. As we got in sight of the 
harbor, we saw several fires a little to the east- 
ward of Cape Despard, and we were soon ap- 
prised that there was a good party of the na- 
tives present. Three canoes put off, and it 
being calm at the time, they shortly came up 
with us. Among them was one of our Banner 
Cove acquaintances, and a member of the 
league organized against us. There were 
some very fine men among them, who, one 
especially, we thought must belong to the 
mainland. 

'' Our errand was now altogether useless. 
It was clear we should have no rest nor quiet, 



NEW TRIALS. 191 

and equally clear that the natives would soon 
accumulate an overwhelming force, and over- 
power our small and feeble party. It was 
agreed that our only course was, late as it 
was now getting, to turn hack upon our route, 
and mak« again for Banner Cove, as a tem- 
porary asylum. We kept under sail all night, 
it being for the most part of the time a calm, 
or but very little wind. While we lay be- 
calmed off the north-west end of Picton Isl- 
and, a canoe put off, in which we found the 
intimate associate of Jemmy, the great con- 
certer of the attacks upon us, and our most 
troublesome acquaintance. This circumstance 
at once apprised us that Banner Cove would 
be no shelter for us ; for we were quite cer- 
tain that the hue and cry would go forth, and 
that they would all be around us very soon. 
Thus being driven out of every asylum, and 
it being quite impracticable, in the crippled 
state of our boats, to beat about and dodge 
off and on from place to place, an opportunity 
was sought to confer together as to the course 
we should, in the midst of such perplexities, 
pursue. The captain offered up prayer, — a 
prayer breathed in simplicity and godly sin- 
cerity, and in firm reliance upon the goodness 
and providential direction of our heavenly 
Father ; and afterward it was decided that, 



192 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

as the only alternative now left, we. should 
pursue our course to the eastward, and if un- 
able to find a convenient cove, that we should 
go on to Spaniard's Harbor. 

" The wind favoring us, we proceeded ac- 
cordingly. At half-past eleven we found a 
cove under Cape St. Pio, where we might 
make at least a short stay, and get fresh sup- 
plies of water and wood. We accordingly 
anchored, and in the afternoon went ashore, 
and walked over the headland till we came in 
sight of Cape Jessie. In the course of our 
walk, which, going and returning, occupied 
jBve hours, we saw a guanaco acting as a scout, 
perched on the highest point of land, and 
watching us with a very narrow scrutiny. It 
did not allow us to get very near, but, with a 
leap and a bound in the air, gave the signal to 
the herd and started off. We saw the foot- 
prints of these animals very numerous, and 
also many Indian paths. The only other trace 
of natives was a wigwam near the beach. 

"Thursday, Jan. 23. — Having got the rud- 
der put to rights, and having obtained fresh 
supplies of wood and water, we left Eeliance 
Cove, at a quarter to ten A. M., with a fair- 
weather sky. As we passed one of the lying- 
out rocks, we were interested in seeing the 
number of fur seals which were grouped upon 



NEW TRIALS. 193 

it. We were becalmed for a time, within a 
short distance of them ; their grunting amused 
us much. Toward evening the wind fresh- 
ened, and we sought for shelter in Slogget 
Bay, and anchored for the night in West 
Cove. 

" Next morning, Friday, 24th, we again 
weighed anchor at a quarter to twelve. We 
had a good run, nothing occurring to us but 
the loss of the sprit to the Speedivell, which 
happened while beating in for Spaniard's Har- 
bor, where we anchored at a quarter past nine 
P. M. We now hoped we were got to a place 
of refuge, where we might for a time, at least, 
have rest from our wanderings ; and remem- 
bering our bad and troublesome and long 
passage in the Ocean Queen over tfie ground 
we had now with so much pleasantness and 
facility traversed, we were very thankful, see- 
ing plainly the hand of our God in his mercy 
and favoring providence. To God we did 
unitedly give the praise and the glory. 

" Next morning, Saturday, the 25th, per- 
ceiving an opening from the sea to what ap- 
peared a lagoon of fresh water, we resolved to 
take up our position there. We got on shore, 
and I took a long stroll. While pursuing my 
way along the bank of a mountain torrent, I 

was struck with the many advantages the 
13 



194 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 



country here possesses over what we had seen 1 
elsewhere. In some spots there was really 
good meadow land, and the scenery was pleas- 
ing — valleys, and copses of wood, with a bold 
range of mountains and hilly bluffs, meeting 
the eye in its furthest range. The sun was 
shining out quite warm ; indeed, the weather 
was delightful, and I felt a real pleasure while 
contemplating the country around me, and 
joyous and pleasing hopes threw a radiance 
on my spirits. I began to think' that even 
Tierra del Fuego had in itself natural charms 
and beauty, and that it could put on a pleas- 
ing aspect and claim our sympathy. But 
when, in addition to such physical enjoyment, 
I thought of the poor inhabitants of the land 
as eventu«,lly brought to the knowledge of a 
Saviour, I was overjoyed and full of praise to 
God at what I felt of his goodness, and at 
what I felt of hope and expectation from that 
goodness. In such a sense of God's blessing 
and favor, I kneeled down where no eye but his 
could see, and prayed, and gave thanks. 

" Eeturning to the boats, I found them an- 
chored off the right bank of the river — the 
side opposite to the one I had got ashore — 
and, as the tide was ebbing, they were both 
aground; and as they had no means of sending 
off for me, it was necessary that I should walk, 



NEW TRIALS. 195 

and find a fordable place for crossing the 
stream. I therefore retraced my steps, and 
scrambled through copse and brushwood, some 
of which consisted of a species of currant-tree, 
and was so strongly entangled, it was almost 
impossible to get through. Penetrating fur- 
ther inland, the country became more open 
and trees larger, and I perceived at a distance 
a few wigwams, which I thought it not pru- 
dent to approach any nearer, as I was already 
some miles away from the boats. I therefore 
crossed the river here, and after a long jour- 
ney, now in the forest and presently again in 
the plain, with some diflBculty in finding my 
way at all, I got back, having been absent 
five or six hours, both fatigued and hungry. 

" We continued at Cook's Eiver until Tues- 
day, Jan. 28, when finding it to be very incon- 
venient for us to get ashore, as well as impru- 
dent to be so long aground, we removed to a 
well-sheltered inlet, which we called Earnest 
Cove. The weather every day for nearly a 
fortnight had been fine, the sun quite strong, 
and much light wind, with but occasional 
showers of rain. At Lennox Harbor we had 
it very fine, and in our various journeys, as 
well as since our arrival in Spaniard's Harbor, 
the weather had been very fine, some of the 
days for a short time equaling in warmth and 



196 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

brightness a summer's day in England. At 
nightfall, however, it generally becomes cold, 
though there were three exceptions in a fort- 
night to that, the temperature remaining high, 
and even close. We were much cheered by 
the prevalence of fine weather, and how greatly 
it had favored us we could not sufficiently 
estimate. 

" Friday, the last day of January, after a 
beautiful day, the weather began to look 
squally and to rain heavily, and continued to 
do so all night. A heavy gale was blowing 
out in the offing, but we rode very snugly, 
protected from the wind which blew off shore, 
yet feeling the swell of the sea; and as the 
two boats were moored, one ahead of the other, 
with an anchor to seaward and a hawser to 
the shore, we felt the strain on them caused 
by the sea, and most of us were kept awake 
throughout the night. I had remarkable 
impressions made on my mind. There were 
many vivid suggestions of danger, but never 
did I feel so unaffiected by the thought. A 
very heaven of repose and love was around 
me, and my heart rested so assuredly and 
trusted so implicitly in God, that it was bliss- 
ful to feel as I did. Awakened repeatedly by 
the jerk of the hawser and the strain of the 
boats, and hearing the roar and dash of the 



NEW TRIALS. 197 

water around, and the pelting of the hail and 
rain, and the howl of the sweeping blasts, 
something would point at danger as present ; 
but I quietly resigned myself to slumber, 
after communion with the Keeper of Israel, 
whose eye I knew was over me. Some time 
between ten and twelve o'clock next morning, 
while calm and sheltered from the rough 
weather, I heard the captain give orders for 
the Speedwell to cast off from our stern, appre- 
hensive, it seemed, of the hawser giving way, 
as both boats were riding \jf it. Scarce a 
minute elapsed after this was done, before the 
concussion of the boat against the beach was 
felt, and almost as instantly a swell broke over 
her stern, and rushed into our dormitory. I 
could scarcely credit my senses. Another, 
and another thump, and another sea breaking 
in over us, confirmed me in the fact that some- 
thing fearful had happened. On looking out, 
the captain and Pearce were busily occupied 
with poles, endeavoring to keep her broadside 
from the surf; but this seemed next to im- 
possible, as the water was pouring into the 
after part of the boat, tumbling right over 
the stern-sheets, and threatening to float every- 
thing. The poor Pioneer was not only thump- 
ing against the beach, which, being of sand, 
might not so materially have damaged her ; 



198 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

but it was evident from the grating sound 
that her bilge was upon rocks. Owing to the 
force of the swell, no effort could keep her 
from swinging upon them, and she rolled back- 
ward and forward upon the surge, threatening 
to knock herself to pieces. It was useless to 
bail any longer,, and we soon gave up all hope 
of doing anything for her, but proceeded as 
rapidly as we could to get our things out of 
her. Our captain, always first in everything, 
now got into our so-called cabin, to hand out 
the things, and^by this time our boxes were 
already floating, and the most of our goods 
were wet. Mr. Maidment and I waded through 
the surf and the swell backward and forward, 
carrying ashore the bedding and tools as the 
captain and Pearce handed them out. By the- 
time we had cleared out most of the cargo, the 
water had risen as high as the thwart, and the 
captain's two boxes floated themselves out into 
the stern-sheets, with their contents. My chest 
was too large to admit of being removed, and 
had to remain in. 

" During all this time it was raining and 
hailing in heavy showers ; and we looked 
most miserable. But I felt neither cast down 
nor much discomforted. A strong consola- 
tion sustained me ; it was my God who gave 
it me. I have often, under ordinary circum- 



NEW TRIALS. 199 

stances, as being wetted by a shower of rain 
in England, experienced more depression and 
discomfort than all that I felt on this occa- 
sion. Indeed, the strong arm of God was so 
around me, that I felt more happiness in his 
presence and support, than pain in contem- 
plating this disaster, or distress from exposure 
to the weather and the water. Besides, some- 
thing seemed to whisper and tell me that all 
was right, that this was a movement of God's 
providence in our favor. And I did not doubt 
but that it was. 

** We had done all that could be done, 
closing up the fore hatchway, as not much 
water was in this section of the boat, and we 
had no alternative but to let her drive with 
the advancing tide and take the strand. It 
was impossible to carry an anchor out to sea, 
as, although we had the day before succeeded 
in making another raft, yet it was too light 
to bear the anchor and chain with a man on 
it ; besides, the heavy swell of itself rendered 
this impracticable. 

" Toward nightfall it came on a storm of 
snow, and we were heartily glad to take 
shelter in a large cavern in the rocks, which 
opened to the sea, and indeed at high water 
it was cut off by the sea rising some way into 
it. It was very spacious, and after running 



200 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

some thirty yards back, branched off at either 
side like the letter T ; but these flanks did 
not extend very far. Under extraordinary 
tides, with gales of wind concurring, from the 
shells cast up at the further end of the cavern, 
it was evident that the water reached even so 
far — no very agreeable information to us, in 
prospect of taking up our night's quarters 
there. However, we saw no cause for present 
apprehension, as the wind was not blowing 
into the harbor, and having lighted a tire 
near the entrance of the cave, after refresh- 
ment and prayer, we committed ourselves to 
God, as unto a faithful Creator. 

'' In spite of wet things, and in spite of all 
apprehensions, we managed to get a sound 
night's rest. The roar of the water, as it 
washed through the archway of a huge rock 
forming a prolongation of one of the sides of 
the cavern, and met with another army of 
waves from the opposite side, and then, in a 
mighty struggle against each other, heaving 
and foaming, came bellowing into our cave — ■ 
this roar of the water disturbed me now and 
then, and the thought that, like some vo- 
racious animal, it was almost upon us, just 
occurred to me ; but it could not drive away 
sleep from my eyes, for I was at peace with 
God, and had hope in him. The disaster 



NEW TRIALS. 201 

which had befallen us was singularly pre- 
sented to my mind as ordered by Providence 
for our good. Strangely did I feel impressed 
that this was the case, and felt a satisfaction 
in seeing the stranded boat, that, but for my 
conviction that it was God's doing, would 
have been most unreasonable. But seeing it 
in this light, how great was the mercy that 
spared us, and brought it about with so little 
suffering to ourselves, neither permitting irre- 
trievable damage to our clothes and property, 
nor suffering us to be exposed to the inclem- 
ency of the weather without an asylum and 
the means of providing comfort ! 

*^ On the Saturday evening, before retiring 
to the cavern, the captain still entertained 
hopes that the boat would be repairable, and 
that her damages were not very serious. 
Next morning, however, she was found to be 
stove in, and that by an unexpected cause. 
Upon the beach, but considerably above the 
tide of the previous evening, and not in a 
direct line with the boat, was a large tree 
lying lengthwise with its stump to the sea ; 
and against this the boat had by the morn- 
ing's tide been driven, the sea rising higher, 
and the swell turning her bow right opposite 
the stem of the tree, so that her timbers were 
sadly stove in. And now also we found her 



202 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

bilge SO much injured that all hope of saving 
her was at once given up. 

" Sunday evening's tide, and more par- 
ticularly that on Monday morning, completed 
the work of destruction. • On these days the 
weather continued most stormy, the wind 
blowing a furious gale, the sea foaming, and 
the lee-shore opposite presenting one con- 
tinued line of breaking sea. Hail, rain, and 
snow, succeeded each other, or were all com- 
bined by fits and starts. We were entirely 
confined to our cave, which proved to be very 
damp, and the smoke of our fire drifting into 
it made it altogether no very desirable resi- 
dence ; although, in our emergency, we felt it 
to be indeed a mercifully provided shelter. 

'^ On Monday evening, for the first time, we 
were able to hold communication with the 
Speedwell, the weather subsiding sufficiently 
for the crew to come ashore on the raft ; and 
then w^e learned how great had been their 
apprehension concerning us, and their own 
alarm, lest they themselves should undergo 
severe disasters by being loosed from their 
moorings. They were obliged to take their 
stove and attach it to a hawser ready to 
throw out as an anchor, in case her chain- 
cable parted; consequently they could cook 
nothing, nor provide themselves tea all the 



NEW TRIALS. 203 

time. We were happy again to comfort one 
another. 

*' We continued our residence in the cavern 
by night as well as by day, until Thursday 
night, February 5, when we again made use 
of the after section of our boat as a sleeping- 
place, and on the Friday following we divided 
her into her original two sections, and hauled 
up the sound section further on the beach. 
Here we have at present (Saturday, Feb- 
ruary 8) a comfortable sleeping-place, covered 
with our oiled canvas, quite protected from 
the wet, though not quite beyond the reach 
of the sea should a very high tide roll in. 

" My night in the cavern has been some- 
what restless, feeling the damp and the 
gloom of it, and smothered by the smoke 
which is condensed within its walls. Again 
for four days in succession I have had all my 
linen, and nearly all my clothes, lying out 
on the beach to dry ; being obliged to rinse 
nearly the whole of them, in order to clear 
them from salt water. But it required con- 
stant activity to improve every glance of 
sunshine, and to snatch them under covert 
at the approach of a storm. Owing to the 
constant rains the ground is now like a 
sponge, and the beach is crossed by streams 
flowing from the high lands through the 



204 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

woods, and washing away the sand in all 
directions. The mountain stream, where the 
flow of water is always abundant, has now 
become a perfect cascade, dashing its roaring 
torrent down from one level to another, with 
a very striking effect. How remarkable is 
our present situation ! How striking is the 
providence of God ! Here we have shelter 
and security ; and here we propose to remain 
until the commencement of April, and only 
to leave here when the prospect of a vessel's 
arrival draws nigh. How mercifully had 
God ordered that we, so weak a party, and 
so defenseless and helpless, should not be ex- 
posed to the irruption of the natives upon us ! 
Had this asylum been rendered unavailing 
by the presence of the natives, none of whom 
we have seen since our arrival, what should 
we have done ? I know that God could even 
then have provided for us; but, humanly 
speaking, our position would have been most 
dangerous. To have put to sea again would 
have been to expose ourselves to the tre- 
mendous gales which incessantly have pre- 
vailed for so long a time, and which we could 
not possibly have weathered in our frail boat 
of seven tons' burden only. And could we 
have got back to Picton Island, no prospect 
would have remained to us but to be hunted 



NEW TRIALS. 205 

about from place to place, like a hare chased 
by the hounds. 

" How evident that we were not in a po- 
sition to commence, with such slight means, 
so arduous an undertaking ! But all this is 
well ; the mission has been thereby begun, 
whereas, had we waited for more efficient 
means, it never probably would have been. 
We are all agreed that nothing short of a 
brigantine or schooner of eighty or one hun- 
dred tons^ burden can answer our ends, and to 
procure this ultimately the captain has fully 
determined to use every effort. Our plan of 
action now is to ^ rough it' through all the 
circumstances which it shall please God to 
permit to happen to us, until the arrival of a 
vessel, and then to take with us some Fue- 
gians, and go to the Falkland Islands, there 
to learn their language, and when we have 
acquired it, and got the necessary vessel, to 
come out again, and go among them. It is 
utterly impracticable ever to acquire the lan- 
guage by any other method, so far as human 
foresight can judge of such matters; and to 
sojourn among them before the language is 
known, would be to run in the face of certain 
destruction, and to tempt Providence, as much 
as to run under a falling wall or to leap over 
a precipice, and expect safety. 



206 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

^* When first I cast my eyes upon the work 
before me, and viewed the natives of Banner 
Cove — the people to whom, by God's mer- 
cy, I and my companions were sent to show 
an open door to eternal life — it was with a 
profound ignorance of the means whereby so 
great a work was to be accomplished. I had 
no clue whatever in any plan that had been 
submitted to my understanding, and as to the 
steps to be taken I was in darkness ; for in 
this the captain consulted not with me, neither 
did he propound his plans more than the mo- 
mentary intimation which preceded some new 
step, which the exigency of the moment had 
given birth to. Therefore, as far as my judg- 
ment went, I saw nothing practicable or feasi- 
ble ; but I committed the direction of our 
affairs to Him who, I was sure, would wisely 
and beneficently order all things by his provi- 
dence, and who, I felt persuaded, would send 
light for our guidance in the very midst of 
our present thick darkness. A short acquaint- 
ance with the natives confirmed the unfavora- 
ble report which such writers as Fitzroy, King^ 
and Darwin, had given; and in the forefront 
of all their actions it was visible that when 
they were the weaker party, they were mild 
and submissive; but the instant they had the 
prospect of taking us at a disadvantage, or 



NEW TRIALS. 207 

unawares, they became presuming and full of 
mischief Consequently, from the time we 
fixed our abode in Banner Cove to the present, 
I never saw any one way likely to lead us to 
success. 

" The destruction of the Pioneer in Earnest 
Cove is another of the acts of God's provi- 
dence toward us. How many had been the 
dangers, or at least apprehensions, we had ex- 
perienced of our being separated one from an- 
other ! Now in the Speedtvell was nearly all 
our store of provisions, and a separation at 
sea must have been fatal to both of us. The 
JP{oneerwas> also more difficult of management 
than the Speedwell, not answering readily to 
her helm, nor sailing so well. Both boats 
were ill manned; though under the perma-. 
nent arrangement of our party, the Pioneer 
was worst off, as there was only one sailor, 
besides her commander, on board, though with 
Mr. Maidment and myself there were four 
persons. Besides, the weight of the iron decks 
made them both top-heavy. When, therefore, 
the Pioneer met her untimely end, I was forci- 
bly struck that it would prove to our advant- 
age, in point of safety and satisfaction ; though 
little absolute comfort could be expected from 
the stowage of seven persons, and all our 
effects, where there had hardly been room for 



208 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

three. But this was altogether a secondary 
consideration, compared to the danger of our 
separation at sea, and 'to the advantage of our 
being able to take so much better care of one 
boat, with undivided* numbers. In this senti- 
ment Captain Gardiner fully concurs. And 
yet, should not trust in God have led us to 
venture among the Indians at all hazards? 
My conscience tells me in what we have done 
we have acted with prudential consideration 
of actual circumstances. The facts were be- 
fore us ; we have been directed by them, and 
to have done otherwise would have been pre- 
sumption and folly. By the grace of God that 
has been given me, I can say that in the mo- 
ment of peril and when confronted by danger 
I felt no fear, but had a firm assurance that 
all would be well, with such a peace and seren- 
ity of mind as only God could give. Yet have 
I felt and do feel, that God requires us to act 
according to a just judgment and sober con- 
sideration of the actual circumstances of a 
case. When a danger is not vaguely appre- 
hended, but is actually known to exist, we are 
not to run into it, but to avoid it. Faith 
never runs contrary to an enlightened judg^ 
ment and just appreciation of things as they 
really are ; but it is the first to yield and ac- 
knowledge that here there is no way open, 



NEW TRIALS. 209 

while also the first to inspire the confident 
hope that God will himself open a way, in a 
manner different from any we know of, and 
in his own good and set time. So do I believe, 
and humbly do I acknowledge and thank God 
for all his manifold mercies and precious deal- 
ings with us. 

'' Saturday, Feb, 23. — For the last two days 
the love of God has been shed abroad in my 
heart, and he himself has been nigh, in all 
my thoughts, and, what was more, in all my 
affections. Praise and prayer, and meditation 
on his Holy Word, were more than ever one 
constant act, and in all things I had liberty. 
The Lord's blessing, too, was upon us in our 
meetings together with the men at night, and 
his Spirit was graciously poured out^ produc- 
ing great compunction of spirit and contrition 
of heart, with new and eager desires for the 
blessings of the gospel of grace in its fullness. 
On Thursday evening I gave the men a full 
view of the Lord^s gracious dealings with my- 
self, gvhowed them how I had labored in igno- 
rance, and the many ways in which I had 
grieved the Holy Spirit. I also plainly de- 
clared the nature of that perfection which we 
are commanded to seek after, and I told them 
how God had visited my soul with his love 
and the baptism of his Spirit. Earnest atten- 

14 



210 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

tion was given me, and mucli affectionate re- 
joicing was manifested by these simple-hearted 
friends, especially my dear brother Badcock. 
A child of God indeed is he — an Israelite in- 
deed, in whom there is no guile. Never did 
I see any one who was more truly a meek and 
humble follower of the Lamb. He has long 
been walking with God in righteousness and 
holiness, and breathing a filial childlike afiec- 
tion to God in Christ. Often have I praised 
the liord for providing this example of his 
truth — this simple proof of the effectual work- 
ing of his grace, where the divine image is re- 
flected from a groundwork of gross material, 
and where the great Creator alone could have 
wrought so mighty a change/^ 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 211 



I sat in the orchard, and thought, with sweet comfort and peace, 
of my God ; in solitude— my company, my friend, and comforter. 
O ! when shall time give place to eternity ? When shall appear that 
new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ? There, 
there shall in no wise enter in anything that defileth ; none of that 
wickedness that has made men worse than wild beasts ; none of those 
corruptions that add still more to the miseries of mortality, shall be 
seen or heard of any more. — The last entry in the Jcmrnal qf^Henry 
Martyn. 

The humidity of the climate and continued 
hardships began to tell on the health of the 
party. The first sufferer was Mr. Williams 
himself ; and the commencement of his illness 
is thus recorded: — 

''Monday, February 25. — Obliged to lie by 
in consequence of a severe chill caught on 
Friday. 

" Wednesday, March 12. — I am just recover- 
ing from a severe illness, having been con- 
fined to bed and to the boat, with the excep- 
tion of the last few days, during which I have 
been able to walk on the beach at favorable 
opportunities, since Monday, the 25th of Feb- 
ruary. I caught a violent chill from putting 
on damp flannels, and having been for some 
time weakly and disordered through want of 



212 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

proper animal food — ^having it only twice a 
week. Owing to the weakening and disturb- 
ing effect of a farinaceous diet, so long con- 
tinued, when the cold attacked me it threat- 
ened at once to prostrate all my powers, and 
assumed an alarming aspect. But the hand 
of the Lord was graciously with me, and by a 
clear perception of what means I ought to use 
I was able to treat myself very successfully. 
There was every threatening of rheumatic 
fever, and the pain in my limbs was excruci- 
ating, while considerable feverishness set in ; 
but the medicines were all remarkably effica- 
cious, and through these and the kind nursing 
of Mr. Maidment, who waited upon me with 
affigctionate and assiduous attention, by the 
blessing of God I am now fast recovering. 

^'Monday, March 17. — Goodness and mercy 
follow me, — yea, abundantly so, — and my heart 
rejoices in God my Saviour. Bodily, I am in 
a poor weak state, having been getting worse 
for some daj^s past, with symptoms of that 
prostrating disease, the scurvy. Poor Bad- 
cock, I am also sorry to say, has symptoms 
of the same too ; indeed, we are all in a very 
weak condition, Erwin and Mr. Maidment 
complaining. How are we brought low ! But 
thou, God, hast the ordering of all things. 
Wise and good are all thy ways. Thou know- 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 213 

est the end from the beginning, and orderest 
all things according to thy will. Thy will be 
done, O God, and blessed forever be thy holy 
name. 

" Wednesday, March 19. — This morning at 
seven o'clock we weighed anchor, and quitted 
Earnest Cove for Banner Cove, in order to be 
in readiness against a vessel's coming, and that 
we might not miss her. This is a sudden move- 
ment of ours, as the time contemplated for 
changing our locality was. still distant some 
weeks ; but the captain was suddenly impress- 
ed with the necessity of our doing so, and be- 
came anxious lest we should miss our vessel. 
The change was only proposed yesterday, and 
carried into execution to-day- One circum- 
stance of a somewhat singular character help- 
ed to hasten the present decision ; that was 
the taking fire of the ' Hurricane-house,' as 
we called it, a place fitted up by the captain 
for his sleeping apartment, in lieu of the 
stranded and dissevered boat, from whence 
kindness and consideration toward me, on ac- 
count of my illness, had driven him. The 
* Hurricane-house ' was composed of a row of 
poles, inclined against a rocky projection, 
some sails and canvas being used to cover 
them, and thus keep out the wind and rain. 
To keep it warm, a fire was maintained 



214 MEMOIR OF RICHARD AVILLIAMS. 

night and day, and owing to the fire hav- 
ing blazed up very fiercely a few morn- 
ings back, the canvas caught fire, and the 
flames extended to the wood above the 
rocks, and a considerable conflagration en- 
sued. We consequently expected that the 
natives from some quarter or other would see 
it; and although this proved not to be the 
case, yet it seemed to impress the captain as 
an intimation for us to stir and be going. 
The night following the fire, a stone from the 
rocks above gave way, and fell just where the 
captain's head would have been had he con- 
tinued to sleep there. Behold the goodness 
and mercy of God's providential care ! 

^' I am writing this as I lie in bed ; we have 
but light wind, almost a calm, which enables 
me to do so. Unhappily I am not getting 
better, and last night I was much distressed 
with the feeling of my excessive debility, and 
the pains in my limbs. Situated as we are, 
it is impossible to obtain the means necessary 
to my recovery, such as animal food and wine. 
How needful it is that a vessel should speedily 
arrive ! But God will order all things ; of 
this I am fully sure, and with joy and assur- 
ance I can yield myself into the Lord's hand, 
without a care possessing my breast as to 
when or how he will provide. 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 215 

'' Reliance Oove, Friday, March 21. — We ar- 
rived here safely by the mercy. of God yester- 
day morning, at about ten o'clock. The wind 
at the time of our setting out was blowing from 
the eastward, and everything very propitious, 
the morning being beautifully fine. Before we 
got out of the harbor a calm ensued, which 
detained us the best part of the morning ; 
afterward it freshened up from the north and 
north-west, still blowing from a quarter that 
happily favored us, and whereby our passage 
was rendered comparatively a short one, — 
short, indeed, compared with what might have 
been expected, when the winds for weeks and 
even months together are from the south and 
south-west, and this with fearful gales and 
overwhelming tempests. 

" During the night of Wednesday, while we 
were pursuing our way over the watery deep, 
the wind repeatedly threatened to blow hard, 
sudden gusts coming on and betokening what 
hard things should follow. The swell was 
great, and the angry sea raged around our 
little boat and dashed its billows over it, so 
that the water penetrated both fore and aft, 
and wetted our beds, especially those of the 
men in the fore part. Heavily laden as our 
boat likewise was, crowded indeed in every 
part, she was quite top-heavy, and out of trim, 



216 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

as it is called ; that is, the weight above did 
not bear the just proportion to her capacity 
beneath. There was really ground for fear, 
and the men were more than once alarmed 
lest she should capsize. I lay conscious and 
satisfied that I and all of us were in the 
hand of the Lord, and assured that, holding 
the winds in the hollow of his fist, he could 
restrain his rough wind, and say unto the sea 
and its boiling waves, ^ Peace, be still/ 1 did 
not, however, rest on this conviction, but fre- 
quently during the night lifted up my soul to 
God in prayer ; and I did observe a coincidence 
between the asking of God and the subsidence 
of the wind, yea, more than once that night. 
Great was the peace I knew, and wonderful 
was the loving-kindness of the Lord, support- 
ing, yea, blessing me, with joy in his Holy 
Spirit, in the midst of much bodily weak- 
ness. 

" Eeliance Cove, where we now are, derives 
its claim to that title from some outlying rocks 
breaking the great swell of the ocean, except 
when the wind blows from the south south- 
west to east south-east. 

*' To-day, although I have not ventured at 
all out of bed, even to sit up, yet, through the 
goodness of God, I feel better than yesterday, 
during the whole of which I was very ill. My 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 217 

disease is gaining ground, though I hope but 
slowly. The captain and Mr. Maidment are 
at present gone ashore, to explore the coast 
in the direction of Banner Cove or westward, 
to find, if possible, a better and safer anchor- 
age. They have been gone since the morn- 
ing, and a terrible w^alk they will have ; for 
the captain is iron-hearted as to difficulties, 
and almost incapable of fatigue, — at least he 
will not yield to anything less than impossi- 
bilities. Poor Mr. Maidment is by no means 
in a state for such a trial of strength, being 
in fact very weak and unwell. May God pre- 
serve them and bless them both ! In their 
absence I have got poor John Badcock, my 
fellow-sufferer, to come and take up his abode 
with me for the day, and we have both been 
greatly refreshed, wdiile we have communed 
together in the Lord. How sweet is Christian 
fellowship and sympathy, when springing from 
Christian love ! 

'' Since writing the above, I have had the 
men together and joined with them in a hymn 
and prayer. 0, how greatly did I feel the 
melody of song in my heart ! It was like a 
little heaven* below. that such feasts of 
sacred love and communion with God were 
mine day by day ! but they are as stolen 
waters. It is getting late in the evening, 



218 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

and the captain and Mr. Maidment are not 
returned. Thrice have I lifted up my soul to 
God, beseeching that no evil may come upon 
them. 

^' — Thank God, they are returned in safety, 
coming back a little after nine o'clock, hav- 
ing gone, by the captain's admission, more 
than sixteen miles there and back, and through 
a rough and mountainous country. I hear 
the captain give expression to weariness and 
fatigue, and, to my great surprise, Mr. Maid- 
ment seems really less affected than the cap- 
tain; thus assuredly the Lord strengthened 
him, for when he set out he was a poor, totter- 
ing, and disabled person. 

'^ Saturday, March 22. — I was exceedingly 
ill last night, the sense of exhaustion being 
as though the life-blood were leaving my 
heart. This arose partly from my being too 
free yesterday in talking, singing, and pray- 
ing ; but so great was my happiness that I 
availed myself of the joyous moments as they 
passed. But another reason is the want of 
sufficient support. I never slept a moment 
the whole night, and toward the morning cold 
shivers came on. 

" This morning we left Keliance Harbor for 
some new abode. Whither we were bound 
circumstances would decide. The name of 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 219 

Eeliance Cove was properly given ; for our re- 
liance was not in the protection it was capable 
of affording, but upon God who made it a 
place of shelter during a short halt by the 
way. Both nights we remained there the 
wind rose and threatened to blow hard ; which 
had it done, we certainly should have had our 
boat dashed in pieces against the steep shingle 
beach. A few hours only after we left, a 
strong breeze from the southward sprung up, 
which would have blown right into the cove, 
and the swell of the ocean here is quite terri- 
ble. It is remarkable als(J, that the day of 
our leaving Earnest Cove, in Spaniard's Har- 
bor, the wind blew strong in from the east- 
ward, and consequently, right into the cove, 
the only time of its blowing strong from that 
quarter since our arrival there. It might 
have damaged our remaining boat, and most 
certainly, as it was full moon, and consequently 
spring-tide, we should have been dislodged both 
from the cavern and our stranded boat. Thus 
how clearly has God manifested his providen- 
tial care over us. how good is the Lord, 
and how greatly to be praised! Blessed be 
his name forever ! 

" Our passage from Eeliance Cove to-day 
has been very trying. The weather has been 
boisterous, strong squalls, ' williwaws,' with 



220 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

hail and snow ; the sea consequently has been 
very rough, and our cockle-shell' of a boat, 
with its disproportioned deck-load, has not 
been free from danger of a sudden capsize. 
However, here we are, nearly at the entrance 
of Banner Cove once more, the only place 
where we poor strolling outcasts can find a 
secure anchorage ground. It is now nearly 
nine o'clock, and a dark and cheerless night. 
Thank God, we have escaped all the dangers 
of the day, and doubtless, God willing, shall 
escape the perils of the night. I have been 
very weak and poorly all the day, and while 
cooped up in bed, swinging under the iron 
canopy of our cribbed and scanty cabin, and 
hearing the waters dash over, yes, and some- 
times tasting a little of them, even inside, — 
while thus situated, rolling and rocking about 
trying to escape from the gathering tempest, 
and hastening our way to a refuge, yet know- 
ing not whither we should go, nor where our 
resting-place would be, my position was not 
calculated to fascinate the eye. Very weak 
have I felt myself, and Satan has urged his 
fierce assaults upon me. I had not strength 
to read, nor indeed to pray. Joy I could not 
summon to my heart, and I felt greatly want- 
ing in love and in thankfulness and praise. 
But what could I do ? I strove to pray ; yea, 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 221 

I told tlie Lord I loved him with all my heart, 
and I blessed his holy name ; yet words came 
not to my thoughts, and thoughts came not 
to my desires. I called, and all was silent: 
no voice responded. I did not discern the 
meaning of this at the time. I did not see 
that God had left me to a naked faith, and 
that it was to pass through a fiery ordeal in 
contending with all my trials and temptations. 
I saw danger on every side, but I feared it 
not. Temptation pointed to death from the 
floods even as I was, cabined up in this small 
smoking place ; then to death as likely to be 
the issue of my present disease, sea-scurvy, 
and no adequate means, no remedy at hand ; 
and then to death as inflicted by the jagged 
war-spear of the Fuegian, or his deadly sling. 
But faith was more than conqueror, through 
Him that loved me and gave himself for me. 
It could and did answer, that if God willed 
either to take place, I desired nothing but his 
will, and in that case any death would be a 
welcome summons to a glorious immortality. 
"After much conflict of this kind, I took 
up my Bible to try to read it ; but I felt as 
though it would be impossible to summon up 
application sufiicient for this delightful task, 
and I turned listlessly over the page, till my 
attention was powerfully arrested by these 



222 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

words of St. Peter: * But the God of all grace, 
who hath called us unto his eternal glory by 
Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a 
while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, 
settle you.' I at once saw the Lord, and heard 
the voice of my God, and great was the con- 
solation imparted to me thus hy Christ Jesus. 
' Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is 
within me, bless his holy name!' Now can I, 
and now do I, with all sweetness and assur- 
ance of hope, with peace and joy, leave my- 
self in the hand of the Lord that he may do 
w^ith me whatsoev^ seemeth him good, content 
in knowing that whatever be the way he takes 
with me, I shall see his great, yea his wonder- 
ful salvation, and give glory to his excellent 
name forever. 

"Monday, March 24. — At Banner Cove 
again ; and with the mercy and goodness of 
God very manifest both in bringing us here 
at this time, and in the providential arrange- 
ment of circumstances favorable to our safely 
and peaceably remaining here. May I never 
forget thy benefits, O my God, but give thee 
endless praise ! 

" It was nearly three o'clock on Sunday 
morning, that we cast anchor once more off our 
old and much-to-be-remembered Station Hill, 
near to which we had built our wigwam, and 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 223 

dug a garden, and where our supplies of water 
were got from; and glad were all hands to 
find a place of rest after their fatiguing and 
harassing day's work. On glancing their 
eyes in the direction of our old quarters, the 
men discovered a light from a fire, kindled, 
they thought, in our wigwam. We, therefore, 
concluded that it had been taken possession of, 
and was now inhabited by the natives. In the 
morning, however, it was discovered that a 
new wigwam had been built during our ab- 
sence, near our own, and ocular demonstration 
was soon afibrded, as also ^y the well-known 
vociferations addressed to the ear, that a large 
party of natives was established here. We 
now of course expected to behold the face of 
Jemmy, and his redoubtable associates, our 
late mortal foes, and that we should have a 
repetition of the trials which we had formerly 
encountered here. We were, therefore, agree- 
ably surprised, when they came off to us, to 
find that they were all entire strangers. The 
party numbered fourteen or fifteen, five men 
and five women, the rest children. They ap- 
peared rather a more squalid lot than our 
former companions, and not possessed of the 
same energy of character. Should their num- 
ber not be increased by the addition of others, 
or of our old acquaintances, we shall be able to 



224 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

stay here in comfort and in peace. All things 
are in God's hand, and he will temper the wind 
to his shorn lambs. I doubt it not. His 
mercy is over all his works, and he loves us 
Avith a Father's tender love and gentle com- 
passion. He wdll do all things w^ell for us ; 
of this I am deeply assured. 

" Yesterday (Sunday) the day was very 
stormy, the equinoctial gales blowing most 
furiously, and from the southward, so that had 
we been at Eeliance Harbor we must have 
perished, or had we been at sea our danger 
would have been great. Snow fell with rain, 
and the temperature was very low. Being in 
bed, I did not feel it, as happily our quarters 
are warm enough when closed up. I now am 
wholly confined to my bed, not daring to ven- 
ture up, fearing that the exertion of rising 
would prostrate me too much. The Lord does 
make all my bed in my sickness ; the Angel of 
his presence overshadowing my soul, and hang- 
ing about me with such irradiations of glorious 
light, — the light of God's love, — that I am 
happy, very happy, and not a moment sits 
wearily upon me. Sweet is the presence of 
Jesus, and 0, I am happy in his love ! 

" After the trials I encountered on Saturday, 
and our knocking about was over, the sleep 
that followed was, I think, the most refreshing 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 225 

that I ever enjoyed ; not so much because it 
was a balmy restorative to my poor debilitated 
body, but because if ever the whisperings of 
Almiglity love spoke tranquillity to the soul 
of man, and breathed a continued flow of 
divine consolation upon his heart, I felt them 
that nigl?t. I was, so to speak, talking with 
the Lord, and his grace supplied me with such 
rich treasure of wisdom in the discourse, and 
his unction so made the purport of my thoughts 
to diffuse a precious odor and a rich influence 
around me, that I could very well have thought 
I was in paradise. I might have thought so, 
but that the subject-matter of my commun- 
ings with the Lord was the services, the 
joyful, heartfelt services, I should render 
unto him in this my lifetime, and period of 
sojourn here on earth. My heart seemed to 
tell the Lord how willingly, how gladly, my 
poor all should be given unto him, to spend and 
be spent for him alone ; and how I should tri- 
umph with heavenly delight, while glorying 
that, by the power of his grace, I was able to 
win souls to Christ. And while such were 
my thoughts, the Lord seemed to accept me in 
all my proffered service, and to pour upon me 
the blessings of his grace, so that he was unto 
me as the dew unto Israel. Communion, 
heavenly and blessed ! Earnest of joys to 

15 



226 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

come, and foretaste of that inheritance unde- 
filed and that fadeth not away, where I shall 
see him face to face, yea, behold him as he is, 
not even the transparent vail of a divine faith 
being betwixt him and me ! And how trans- 
cendently glorious is the further assurance, 
that when we do see him as he isf we shall 
be like him, partakers of his divine nature, 
and sharers of his glorious image. O God, 
my Lord, forever be thy name adored. 

" To-day we hope to recover the provisions 
which we stowed away when we were here be- 
fore. Among these is a barrel of pork pur- 
chased of the Ocean Queen: this will be of 
great service to our party, and will, I trust, 
with God's blessing, strengthen them greatly. 
Our preserved meat is now nearly out, our 
store of spirits nearly exhausted, and when 
these are ended, as in a week or two they will 
be, then with the prophet Habakkuk I will ex- 
claim, as I know by grace I shall be able to 
do, ' Although the fig-tree shall not bloesom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor 
of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield 
no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the 
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : 
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the 
God of my salvation.' 

" I have been greatly gratified and affected 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 227 

by pleasing evidence mmi the work of grace is 
deepened in my brethren's minds. This, not 
in one, but I think in all. The trials and 
dangers we have been subject to, have, by the 
sanctifying grace of God, had a gracious in- 
fluence. Yesterday and Saturday I was quite 
affected by the kindness of the captain, and 
his humble and gentle deportment ; his prayer, 
too, yesterday, was an outpouring of his soul 
before God, in so unaffected and sincere a 
manner, with such unqualified expressions of 
resignation to the will, and humble trust in 
the mercy of God, that it did make me own 
with joy, that here is a child of God addressing 
the Father of all mercies. This morning, too, 
the prayer of Mr. Maid men t was in like man- 
ner a sincere breathing out of the soul in 
humble supplication and confident trust in 
God. Oil am glad and rejoice in the Lord 
to see my brethren thus meek and trustful. 

'^Banner Oove, Wednesday, March 26. — Yes- 
terday the party of natives left the harbor, 
with what intent we of course are ignorant. 
In order to be in as great a state of prepared- 
ness as possible, and to omit no way of afford- 
ing intelligence to the vessel that should come 
to our relief, provided we were forced to leave 
this part again, the place appointed for her 
coming to, the captain has inclosed notices in 



228 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

bottles, and sunk therUn various places, with 
boards erected above them, and letters painted 
thereon, ' Look underneath/ A copy of these 
notices is as follows : — 

" ' The natives are hostile. We are obliged 
to move from place to place. If not in Ban- 
ner Cove, we shall be near Cape Eees or Cape 
James, on the N. E. side of Navarin Island ; 
if not there, in Spaniard Harbor, which is on 
the main island, not far from Cape Kinnaird. 
We have sickness on board, our supplies are 
nearly out, and if not soon relieved we shall 
be starved. We do not intend to go to Staten 
Island, but, if unable to remain at the two 
places indicated above, to run for Spaniard 
Harbor, and stay there in a cove, on the west- 
ern side, until some vessel comes to our as- 
sistance. 

(Signed) " * Allen F. Gardiner, 

" * Superintendent of the Mission, 
*'* Banner Cove, March 26, 1851, Wednesday.' 

"We yesterday got back our provisions 
which had been deposited at Tent Cove, con- 
sisting of three barrels of biscuits, and the 
barrel of pork. How thankful ought we to 
be that they had never been discovered by the 
natives ! The goats on Garden Island they 
have disappointed us of, having destroyed 
them all. 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 229 

^* Te&terday the suWh being out for a little 
while, I gcft outside my prison-house, and how 
greatly did I feel the invigorating effect of 
the sight of this interesting spot, the scenery 
quite beautiful! To-day, the weather being 
cold, I could not venture out of bed. 

^'Banner Cove, March 27. — To-day a fresh 
party of natives have made their appearance, 
to our discomfort It was blowing very hard 
at the time they came in, which we could only 
account for on the supposition that they had 
received intelligence of our arrival from the 
party which left on Tuesday, as in general 
they are so cautious and indisposed to move 
about in rough weather. Among them were 
some of our old acquaintance, and doubtless 
they are but the harbingers of the whole of 
our evil-disposed former associates. They 
have been very boisterous and presuming, and 
have displayed the same daring as before. 
While all our party were on deck, excepting 
Badcock and myself, they cut the rope at- 
tached to our raft, and but for the alertness 
of our men, would have had it adrift. We 
expect that to-morrow others will arrive, and 
we all fear that it is impracticable for us to 
stay here. Should the weather therefore per- 
mit, the captain proposes to start the first 
thing in the morning for Spaniard Harbor 



230 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

again, the only place #iere there is rest for 
the soles of our feet. And there 'v^e shall re- 
main, as far as we can tell, till a vessel comes 
to our relief. In the mean-time, not a being 
on the earth will have any knowledge of the 
place where we are ; but God knows, and how 
much better to be known, and to know we are 
seen, of God, than to have the eyes of the 
whole world resting upon us! I have been 
more than once struck with the thought that 
our present separation from the haunts and 
abodes of all we have ever known, is a strik- 
ing illustration of that separation which death 
makes. We are, as it were, dead to our dear 
friends, yet we are living. We have the 
active faculties of the soul still at work, in- 
cessantly bringing our dear ones to our re- 
membrance ; but we are no longer living 
among them, identified in all our interests 
with them. But we are living in God and to 
God. He is our being and end, and with him 
alone we are identified now through the ex- 
ceeding riches of the grace abounding unto us 
in Christ Jesu^. Yet we are associated in 
love with all our earthly friends more sweetly, 
more firmly, more endearingly than ever. 
May God bless them all, is my fervent prayer. 
"Friday, March 28.— Left Banner Cove this 
morning at half-past four o'clock. The na- 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 231 

tives as usual had r^red to their wigwams 
soon after sunset ; but they were up and stir- 
ring as early as one o'clock. Of course we 
had kept a watch. From one o'clock until 
the hour of our departure they were very 
busily employed. Their early rising con- 
firmed our suspicion that they expected to be 
joined by others, and their incessant hammer- 
ing on the trunks of trees, appeared to be a 
sort of signal as to their whereabouts. We 
never knew the natives to be moving about 
until three or four, even in summer when it 
w^as quite light ; but, setting aside these signs 
of concerted vigilance on their part, we were 
morally certain that there would be a large 
muster of them in the course of the day. 

'' Spaniard Harbor, March 29, Saturday 
afternoon. — We are now just sighting Earnest 
Cove, after being becalmed in the entrance 
of the harbor the most part of the day. We 
had what the sailors call a fine start of wind, 
blowing from the northward and westward, 
and which brought us into the troubled water 
of Slogget Bay soon after nightfall, and which 
freshening up and blowing in sudden and vio- 
lent blasts, we were again in danger of cap- 
sizing. As I lay in bed, I heard the captain 
say, * It is a wonder w^e were not capsized.' 
At first, it was proposed to lie-to for the night 



1 



232 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

in the bay, and not to ^Counter the tide races 
which we should meet' in rounding the cape. 
However, we pursued our way without stop- 
page, groping along in the dark, and tum- 
bling over the billows. 

"Earnest Cove, Tuesday, April 1. — The 
morning being fine, and the sun shining quite 
warm, I ventured to rise, and get out into the 
stern-sheets ; but I soon became so sensible 
of my weakness, my limbs almost failing me, 
and faintness and pains coming on, that I 
hastened back to my peaceful bed, where 
alone I can obtain any mitigation to the dis- 
tresses of my body. Sometimes I almost for- 
get that anything is the matter w^ith me, and 
would almost persuade myself that if I were 
up I should still feel the same ; but, alas ! the 
trial soon shows how slight is the ground of 
my expectation. But as I, day by day, and 
night by night, lie here, what a world, un- 
known to the world, do I live in ! God is in- 
deed about my bed, and spies out all my ways, 
and his countenance is over me for good. 
How blessed is the thought ! The Lord is 
teaching me, and counseling my heart with 
his hidden wisdom, and making known his 
secret unto me ; yea, he is revealing unto my 
soul the deep things of God, and giving me 
spiritual understanding in the knowledge of 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 233 

that Avliich hatli been hidden from the foun- 
dation of the world. The glory and everlast- 
ing praise be to my God, through Jesus Christ 
my Lord. 

" Wednesday evening, eight o^cIock, April 9. 
— To-day we have had most boisterous weather, 
the sea and the waves roaring. Happily we 
are well sheltered, so as not to be exposed to 
any danger, at least we trust not ; yet the 
surf on the shore is prodigious in volume, and 
the straining jerk on our hawser is somewhat 
alarming at times. We are, however, in God^s 
hands. The cold has been very severe to-day, 
and this, together with the raging of the tem- 
pest, the gloom of a sunless day, and the 
heavy fall of hail and rain, has rendered our 
position somew^iat cheerless. Badcock and I 
are companions in affliction. We get no bet- 
ter, but worse, the disease slowly progressing. 
However, poor John has not yet suffered any- 
thing like the same amount of prostration as 
myself. The exhaustion occasioned by my 
previous illness accounts for the difference. 
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday last were rather 
distressing days. The oppression from my 
bodily disorder was very great, and so incapa- 
ble of all exertion did I feel, that I could not 
apply my mind to reading. On Sunday night 
1 made it an especial matter of prayer that 



234 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

God would SO strengthen my mind that I 
might be able to exercise it in reading ; and 
my prayer was answered, for with great de- 
light I spent nearly the whole of the next day 
on Bonar's Commentary on Leviticus, and the 
Bible in conjunction therewith. 

"Our boat is in some respects unsuitable. 
If we draw up the door at the entrance to our 
berth, we then exclude all air, as there is no 
other opening, not even for ventilation. But 
on the other hand, if we have it open, then 
the wind and the cold night air come in, and 
render clothing almost ineffectual for keeping 
us warm. So I felt it last night, and upon 
previous occasions, — a cold, chilly sensation 
pervading my back. If to obviate this, we 
close the door altogether, the vapor from our 
breaths accumulates on the iron roof of our 
deck, only a few inches higher than our pil- 
lows, and drops over us and trickles down on 
our beds in such quantities that we find it very 
troublesome. Add to this the muddled state 
of our apartments, from our not being able 
to dispose things comfortably about us, not 
having now for several days been able so much 
as to get out of bed to have it made. Add 
also that our appetites rather fail in attacking 
the boiled pork, which at first was a great 
treat, and that tlu' preserved meat is fast 



SIGKNESS AND FAMINE. 235 

hastening to an end, as is also our supply of 
spirits. Add to this that our kind and attent- 
ive nurse, Bryant, a most affectionate and 
sympathizing attendant, is himself showing 
symptoms of the disease. Add to this the 
uncertainty as to when a vessel may come to 
our relief, and the possibility that she may 
not see and observe our notices put up on vari- 
ous parts of Banner Cove, and so not come at 
all ; and you may ask if we have not some 
ground of apprehension concerning our sup- 
plies and well-being. I can deliberately an- 
swer, that my mind is free from such appre- 
hension ; and although I have felt so weak that 
I could take comfort in scarcely anything, nor 
could even coerce my mind into an active con- 
templation of God^s goodness so as to give and 
feel praise to him, yet I do know and am con- 
fident ' the Lord will provide,^ and that we 
shall want no good thing, nor suffer more than 
we can bear, neither shall evil betide us. The 
Lord is with us, and will not fail us in our 
need ; but our extremity will be his oppor- 
tunity. 

''Earnest Cove, Saturday, April 12. — Last 
night we had the most fearful storm we have 
encountered at all. It commenced about nine 
or ten o'clock, and continued to rage through- 
out the night. Before witnessing it, we had 



236 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

no just conception of what a south-west gale 
in these latitudes is. It reminded me of the 
blast from the iron mouth of the bellows at 
a smelting furnace ; or what might be sup- 
posed would be the rush and violence of a 
furious storm driving through a tunnel. Dur- 
ing the whole period the roar and wail of the 
tempest around us and in the distance were 
appalling. The bands of violence seemed let 
loose, and we could not but feel that the time 
was one of peril and alarm. Sheltered as we 
were, by being all but land-locked, we found 
that we were not out of reach of its direct 
assault, when gathering its forces from every 
quarter, its tremendous gusts were every now 
and then aimed straight at our devoted heads. 
The rush, and fury, and force of its beatings 
point-blank upon us were tremendous. Our 
poor boat trembled and quivered, and the 
hawser whereby it was made fast to. the shore 
became as 'taught^ as it could be; but still 
time after time it lifted its head up uninjured. 
The night was dark, and very wet, and much 
hail fell. We ascertained that the captain, 
Mr. Maidment, and Pearce, w^ho slept ashore, 
were up, and withdrawn to the cavern, and we 
rightly conjectured that they were in great 
and painful anxiety on our account. They 
and the men on board were greatly afraid that 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 237 

the hawser, which was but a small one, would 
give way, and in that case our anchor might 
drag, and so we should be driven out to sea 
or dashed upon the rocks. Not one of our 
party slept the whole night, but with anxious 
expectation looked out for the coming day. 
When the morning came, one proof was afford- 
ed us of the fury of the gale. A pair of 
trowsers and a woolen jersey had been made 
fast to the mast to dry, tied with a rope ; the 
legs of one, and the body of the other, were 
torn right off, leaving the waist of the former 
and the arms of the other remaining. 

'^Oook^s River, Monday, April 14. — In con- 
sequence of our late severe weather, and the 
dangers to which we were exposed, the captain 
thought it advisable to take the first oppor- 
tunity for removing to Cook's Eiver, where 
storms can in no way endanger us. We are 
accordingly come here this afternoon. The 
opening is narrow indeed, and it is defended 
from the sea by a shifting bar, over which the 
sea roars with a vain effort to disquiet the 
peaceful waters inside. This river, or rivulet 
rather, expands into a small lake, which trends 
along the head of the bay, and then winds 
about in many serpentine foldings, until it 
loses itself in a small stream. To the bar at 
the entrance, and to one a little further to 



238 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

the seaward, the ducks, gulls, divers, and 
shags, often resort in large numbers. The 
evening being fine, I got up to have a look 
around me, and never did I feel more inter- 
ested in any scene, unless I may except the 
sight of Banner Cove under similar circum- 
stances. On both occasions the deep verdure 
mingling with the many shades of the now 
fading beach, with the grand and wild mountain 
scenery stretching along the side of the bay, 
and the forest-covered hills overhanging us to 
the south, and, above all, the bright beams of 
a fiery and storm-portending sun, going down 
beyond the furthest range of highlands in the 
deep background, leaving broad tracks of light 
betwixt the clouds of indigo and purple, — all 
had a vivid and strong effect upon my feelings, 
and greatly cheered me. Seeing the sunset 
once more — for it is long since I beheld it — my 
soul aspired toward the plains of light, and I 
could conceive some such a portal as yon bright 
scene, only brighter, brighter far,^ and cloud- 
less, opened into the paradise of our God. 
Thither my happy spirit bent its way upon 
the wings of hope, faith pointing out the 
pathway to the golden gate, and love desir- 
ing and hastening on the soul to win so 
priceless an inheritance among the saints in 
light. 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 239 

^^ Good Friday, April 18. — Since writing the 
above, we have had gales and furious storms 
in almost constant succession, the weather 
being severely cold, with a considerable fall 
of snow, and with dreary hail-storms and sleet. 
I have frequently lifted my head from my 
pillow to look out on the cold and cloudy and 
wintery scenes around me. My bed-head being 
close to the door, by just lifting myself up, I 
could see the mountains to the south of us, 
and their new vesture of driven snow. The 
first sight of this, the fall being great during 
the night of the 15th, was very full of pleas- 
ure to me. Dreary and desolate as was the 
scene, I could yet feel pleasure in the grand- 
eur and magnificence of its very wildness. 
The aspect of nature was all around changed ; 
and with the winds howling around, the sea 
roaring over the sand-bank close by, the air 
filled everywhere with falling snow, and with 
that peculiar sense of lonesome isolation which 
a bleak winter scene conjures up in the mind, 
suggesting our need of relative and social 
connections, there was still a sense of the sub- 
lime truly pleasurable. 

" To-day, the weather having abated its 
violence, I availed myself of the afternoon 
sunshine to get up for a short time. I couLl 
scarcely support myself, and had to take freely 



240 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

of spirits to enable me to keep up a little 
while ; but the enjoyment of looking around 
me is so great, that I mind not a little trouble 
to accomplish it. Poor John [Badcock], alas ! 
cannot do this much, and is decidedly getting 
worse than myself, the disease making more 
progress with him than with me; yet we fare 
in all respects alike, and share the same com- 
forts, and use the same means, and certainly 
I was much worse than he at the beginning. 
His legs are swollen and discolored, his gums 
get very bad, his loss of blood is frequent, and 
the prostration of his strength is dayly more 
marked. I am truly affected by observing 
this ; but I keep him from knowing my sus- 
picions, and as I treat my own case very lightly, 
and, by the grace of God, am ever able to keep 
a cheerful countenance, I succeed in preserv- 
ing his mind from the alarm and despondency 
so peculiar to this disease, and which so greatly 
adds to its distress. Poor and weak though 
we are, our abode is a very Bethel to our souls, 
and God we feel and know is here. John 
often smiles through a tear that flows from a 
heart full of a sense of God's love ; and though 
both of us are subject to many infirmities, and 
sensible of our numberless shortcomings, yet 
moments so speed by, many of them winged 
with aspirations after God, that we ourselves 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 241 

forget all our bodily complaints, until re- 
minded of them by exhaustion. 

'*As the weather gets colder, we naturally 
enough wish to hasten the period of the ves- 
seFs arrival that shall bring us succor, and 
carry us hence. 

" During the day, while storms are raging 
especially, we are under the necessity of shut- 
ting out the light, in order to exclude the 
cold; and at other times our place is filled 
with the smoke which is blown in from the 
stove close to us in the stern-sheets. At low 
water, too, now that we are in Cook^s Eiver, 
our boat heels over so that John is at one 
time deep down on the lee-side, at another 
time I ; and then one of us gets all or the 
most part of the water accumulating from 
condensation on the iron roof, which drips on 
our head and back, or saturates our pillows 
and bed-clothes, should they also unhappily 
gravitate leeward. We, however, look these 
inconveniences well in the face, and by patience 
disarm them of half their unpleasantness — a 
good lesson acquired in the school of experi- 
ence, with the grace of God for our helper 
and teacher. 

" To-day the first of our supplies, tapioca, 

which we have depended much upon, having 

had of it for our breakfast dayly, has failed 
16 



242 MEMOIR OF RICHARD AVILLIAMS. 

US ; our only remaining substitute being rice. 
Somewhat more serious than this is the fact, 
that after having exhausted our store of 
brandy and of rum, we are now drawing upon 
our last bottle of gin; and as it grows less 
and less, while we consume it by another and 
another draught, necessary to stimulate our 
debilitated bodies and recover us from our 
severe fits of exhaustion, we look at each other 
and say, ' The sooner gone, the sooner the 
ship must come V This sentiment the captain 
also gave utterance to to-day, and indeed it is 
our general feeling, belief, and hope, that 
God will permit our means to fail us, and just 
then his mercy will shine forth in the oppor- 
tune and gracious deliverance which he shall 
send us. 

" The captain, who happily continues well, 
but unaccompanied by Mr. Maidment, who is 
suffering from cold, came and held service 
with us. The sermon he read was out of a 
volume by the Eev. J. Harington Evans, on 
the seventeenth chapter of John. It was a 
delightful and most appropriate discourse, the 
subject being, ' Finished Work.' 

''Monday, April 21. — To-day the boat was 
moored in-shore, close to the bank, so that we 
can step from the deck on the land ; and I 
felt greatly tempted to try once more to put 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 243 

my foot ashore. I therefore got up, and with 
the assistance of Bryant, stepped on the green 
turf. But to my surprise I found that I had 
no power over my limbs, and the attempt at 
progression was almost ludicrous ; for my legs 
went sideways rather than forward, and I 
must have fallen had I not been supported by 
Bryant. Although I have frequent distress- 
ing bodily prostration, with great languor, I 
praise God that only on one occasion has my 
mind greatly participated. Sometinjes so 
powerless as to be unable for reading or much 
thought, I have felt this state to be merely 
passive, and without any positive gloom or 
real depression of spirits. 

'' This night we have a pretty hard frost, 
which covers the roof above my head with its 
hoary frost-work. It pinches me much, my 
back especially, clothes being insufficient to 
keep me warm. 

''Thursday, May 1. — The violence and in- 
clemency of a Fuegian winter have been now 
for some time felt by us. We have had the 
snow falling day by day, covering all around 
with its white mantle, and with this a dayly 
succession of fearful storms of wind. In our 
present position we are more than ever ex- 
posed to the raging of the blast and the pene- 
trating of the cold, as to the westward we are 



244 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

open to the plains or valleys which stretch be- 
neath the mountains. At times we greatly 
feel the cold, being obliged to remain shut up 
in the darkness of our berth by day as well 
as by night, save when relieved by the light 
of our candle. Occasionally, however, we get 
an interval of moderate weather, and the effect 
of it is very cheering to us all. Our provis- 
ions are fast consuming away: our ' sick diet,' 
in particular, is likely to come to an end still 
morQ speedily ; the preserved meat and pork 
being now nearly finished, and our stock of 
spirits, having had no wine, having been for 
some days exhausted. We have tried in vain 
to catch fish in the net and with a line. None 
are to be seen, and although ducks and wild 
fowl are not scarce around us, we have no 
means of getting at them. 

" On Friday the captain and Mr. Maidment 
succeeded in catching a fox, or rather in kill- 
ing him. He had frequently paid them visits 
during the night, entering the cavern while 
they were in bed in the boat, and making free 
with whatever came to hand. He had carried 
off pieces of pork, shoes, and even books ; and 
to the great mortification of Mr. Maidment, 
his Bible was among the latter, which being 
bound in morocco, was doubtless a booty to 
the hungry beast. They therefore laid a bait 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 245 

for him — a piece of pork attached by a cord to 
the trigger of a loaded gun, so placed that 
when he took the bait he should fire the gun. 
He fired it off once, but escaped unhurt ; twice 
the cap went off, but the powder did not take 
fire. At last, he received the whole discharge 
in his breast. In his stomach were found 
feathers, fish, and mice. He was a fine animal, 
with a splendid brush. Albeit the odium at- 
tached to a fox, our party on shore have already 
so far overcome any such fastidiousness, that 
this morning they made a hearty breakfast of 
his ' pluck. ^ His quarters are cut up and kept 
in reserve. This is not the first extraordinary 
bonne houche our worthy caterer has put upon 
the spit, or made into soup for us. The pen- 
guin and shag, and the equally fishy-tasted 
duck, have all contributed their quota. The 
penguin was caught on shore, without attempt- 
ing to get away, more than by a backward 
movement, as Mr. Maidment laid hold on him. 
The shag was asleep on a fallen tree, lying 
on the beach, so that Mr. Maidment caught 
it also by hand. 

" The most formidable drawback of all is 
the dampness of the boat. Although I have 
my Mackintosh spread over my bed, the water 
from the roof lodges in pools upon it, and has 
at length saturated the counterpane under it. 



246 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

The side of our beds, and all our clothes there, 
as well as at the head and the foot, are all 
wringing wet. One night I felt a deadly chill 
from the damp, from which for hours I could 
get no relief, and having failed of our supply 
of spirits, I had a great pain the whole night, 
which continued very severe the two following 
days. While it lasted I was almost tempted 
to think I could not recover ; the prostration 
of death seemed upon me. 

" Wednesday, May 7. — To-day we have been 
just eight months from the time of our leav- 
ing Liverpool. The weather is now confirmed 
in its winterly severity, and we have had pretty 
hard frosts, sufficient to freeze large portions 
of the river in which we are lying, and which 
drift past us at each ebbtide. 

" This evening, having Pearce in addition 
to our company, I felt in prayer much soften- 
ing and tenderness of heart, with longing af- 
ter the perfect love of God. Pearce read Mr. 
Wesley's sermon on Repentance in Believers, 
and its plain, simple exhortations did me 
much good. Since then I have been able to 
exercise such a measure of faith in Christ as 
I had not felt before, and to realize blessings far 
higher. I could say that I did — I can say that 
I do love God with a love I had no conception 
of, with a love that actuates every faculty of 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 247 

my whole soul; and the love of God in Christ 
I feel beyond all expression. This much I 
venture in much weakness to write ; whether 
I shall be able to add much more to this jour- 
nal is known only to God. But this I may 
say, I have not had at any time a disquieting 
thought, or a mistrusting fear as to the re- 
sult. I have felt, Come life, come death, 
God's will would be my choice. I have not 
had .any doubts as to a vessel coming to our 
help. I have, for the most part, believed 
God would restore me to health ; and I have 
thought, in accordance with a singular im- 
pression made on my mind, that my course 
would be directed back again to my native 
country. This I have believed — yet I cannot 
say that God ivill not take me hence, by tak- 
ing me sooner than I expected to heaven and 
glory. His will be done — his blessed will be 
done : I have no longer a choice, when I know 
his holy will. My poor frail body is now very 
attenuated, and my sinking, depressed feel- 
ings are very great at times. But my mind 
scarcely feels depression, and certainly no de- 
pression except in mourning over my unfaith- 
fulness and shortcomings. 

*^ Should anything prevent my ever adding 
to this, let all my beloved ones at home rest 
assured that I was happy, beyond all expres- 



248 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

sion, the night I wrote these lines, -and would 
not have changed situations with any man 
living. Let them also be assured that my 
hopes were full, and blooming with immortal- 
ity ; that heaven, and love, and Christ, which 
mean one and the same divine thing, were in 
my heart ; that the hope of glory, the hope 
laid up for me in heaven, filled my whole heart 
with joy and gladness; and that to me to live 
is Christ, to die is gain. I am in a strait be- 
twixt two — to abide in the body, or to depart 
and be with Christ, which is far better. Let 
them know that I loved them, and prayed 
for every one of them. God bless them all. 

''''Tuesday, May 20. — I am now, as it were, 
suspended by a slender thread betwixt life 
and death. Three days following I have had 
attacks, which seemed to threaten a termina- 
tion in dissolution. But God is with me. I 
am happy in the love of Christ. I could not 
choose, were it left to me, whether to die or to 
live. I feel the conviction in my mind still 
strong that I shall recover ; but I am got so 
near to heaven, by the falling into ruinous 
decay of this earthly house of my tabernacle, 
that another shake, and there seems reason 
to expect that my soul will be numbered with 
the departed who are gone to glory. This I 
can say, that no other thought or desire has 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 249 

crossed my mind, as a reason for the prolon- 
gation of my earthly existence, but that it 
might thereby please my Lord to make me an 
instrument of winning souls to him. 

''Friday, May 23. — To-day I have felt much 
sinking, and have felt a desire to depart and 
be with Christ. Last night I felt much for 
the situation of my companions, and prayed 
to God with great fervor in their behalf, en- 
treating the Lord to send relief to them, and 
if it were his will, that I should see that suc- 
cor come, and then, if it pleased him, be taken 
hence. I excluded myself from any partici- 
pation of benefit to be derived from a vessePs 
coming, lest I might seem to fall into impa- 
tience, or display aught else than absolute 
resignation to God's holy will concerning my- 
self. But I did feel I might intercede for 
others, and I sought God's blessing on their 
bodies and souls. This evening I have been 
so allured by the love of Jesus, that I have 
not been able to refrain from asking the Lord, 
to permit me to come to himself. Nothing 
on earth could hold back my wishes from 
transporting me at once into his presence. I 
felt it could be no sin to desire thus eagerly 
for heaven. Its light, its atmosphere, its 
peace, its joys, yea, and its holiness, were 
around my soul, and earth to my eyes seemed 



250 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

a dreary place. But am T ready to go ? O 
yes ; Jesus has made me ready. I could not 
be more ready than he can make me, were I 
to live a century longer. His blood, his pre- 
cious blood, I bear upon my heart ; his right- 
eousness declared of God, I hold for my title- 
deed. 

''Tuesday, May 27. — To-day I have per- 
ceived new symptoms, which show the inroads 
of the disease upon my system, and strongly 
point out a fatal termination. Can I be in any 
way disappointed at this, instead of a life of 
much service and glory to God ? No, not for 
a moment ; for God's glory can only be en- 
hanced by fulfilling the counsels of his own 
will; and to suffer his blessed will, as much 
glorifies my God as to do it. I am not disap- 
pointed ; rather do I rejoice greatly, that now 
it seems manifestly the design of God to take 
me hence. I have time after time felt an in- 
expressible desire to be with Christ, and to- 
day I have been ravished with his love. Should 
this then be the will of God, then, my beloved 
ones, weep not for me. Let no mourning 
thought possess your hearts^ nor sigh of sad- 
ness once escape your lips. Say rejoicingly, 
How good was the Lord ! how greatly was he 
blessed of God, and he has gone to be withr 
Jesus ! There you, my beloved ones, — ^you, 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 251 

my mother ; you, my sisters, may all of you — 
O yes, you will shortly meet me, — will you 
not ? The love of Christ fills my heart ; but 
with this love which loves him supremely, I 
love you as I never did before. But heaven 
is at hand. It is nigh to my soul. It is my 
home. I shall look for you there. There we 
shall meet to part no more. Its glories invite 
me. Its holiness, its purity, makes me desire 
it, where I shall no more feel the curse of sin, 
nor see that loathsome thing, corruption. I 
hail the glorious change. My soul rejoices in 
the Lord, and I would not exchange my dying 
hopes, surrounded as I now am with all earthly 
discomforts, for all the greatest luxuries and 
all the blandishments the world could set be- 
fore me ; nay, nor could it stop one minute my 
onward flight to God, were the whole realm 
of nature, and every monarch with his crown, 
inviting me to linger for a while, and taste of 
honor, power, and earthly good. No, O no ! 
All that is vanity and a delusion. There is 
no other happiness but in knowing God, and 
Jesus Christ whom he has sent; in knowing 
him as our merciful, gracious, long-suffering 
God ; forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin : 
and Jesus Christ as — no words can say wljiat 
Jesus Christ is when you know him. This is 
the white stone, inscribed with a new name, 



252 MEMOIB OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

which no one knows but he to whom it is given. 

Jesus, blessed Mediator and Intercessor ! 
into thy hands I commit my beloved ones. Do 
thou effectually prevail in the behalf of each, 
so that all may receive thy Holy Spirit and the 
gift of eternal life, to thy own and the Father's 
everlasting glory, world without end. Amen. 
[Then follow affectionate messages to various 
friends by name.] 

"Thursday, June 12. — Ah! I am happy 
day and night, hour by hour. Asleep or awake, 

1 am happy beyond the poor compass of lan- 
guage to tell. My joys are with Him whose 
delights have always been with the sons of 
men ; and my heart and spirit are in heaven 
with the blessed. I have felt how holy is that 
company ; I have felt how pure are their af- 
fections, and I have washed me in the blood 
of the Lamb, and asked my Lord for the white 
garment, that 1, too, may mingle with the 
blaze of day, and be among them one of the 
sons of light, 

" We have long been without animal food 
of any kind. Oi^r diet consists of oatmeal and 
pease, with rice occasionally ; but even of this 
we have only a stock sufficient to last out the 
present month, or a very shorfc period beyond 
this. The weather is very severe, with a deep 
fall of snow on the ground. But this is not 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 253 

the worst feature of our case. All hands are 
now sadly affected. Captain Gardiner, a mira- 
cle of constitutional vigor, has suffered the 
least, and if I listened to his own words he is 
still none the worse ; but his countenance be- 
speaks the contrary. Would it were not so ! 
Mr. Maidment, likewise, has sustained the 
shock of our circumstances very well, but yet 
great debility is now manifesting itself. All 
the rest have decided symptoms of scurvy, and 
have something to do to stand under the bur- 
den of the duties devolving upon them; but 
their perseverance, and willingness, and pa- 
tience, deserve the highest praise, while it 
elicits from our hearts a feeling sense of our 
obligations to them, and a regret to put them 
to such a severe trial. The Lord reward and 
bless them ! Indeed, his blessing is upon them ; 
and the Spirit of grace is deepening his work 
in their souls. Much more could I add, but 
my fingers are aching with cold, and I must 
wrap them up in the clothes. But my heart 
is warm — warm with praise, thanksgiving, and 
love to God my Father and to God my Saviour.^^ 
Up to this period Mr. Williams's journal had 
been carefully kept ; and, looking at its neat 
and legible pages ; knowing, too, the distress 
and discomfort in the midst of which its latter 
portions were written, we cannot but regard 



254 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

it as a very affecting document. It is quite 
evident that he had acquired a fond attach- 
ment to this personal narrative, and that the 
hours passed lightly which were spent in its 
life-like society. Not only was it a survivor 
from brighter days, and a remembrance of the 
hopes and aspirations of the outward voyage, 
but it was becoming too manifest that his 
Burslem friends might have no other messen- 
ger to tell how it fared with him in the last 
stage of the pilgrimage. Eventually, there- 
fore, we believe that it was chiefly for their 
sakes that, by the light of a candle, and with 
" aching fingers,^^ as he lay in his cheerless 
cabin, he continued to record the incidents and 
impressions of these lonely days. 

We are now arrived at the last entry. It 
is dated, " Cook's Eiver, Sunday night, or 
possibly Monday morning, June 21 or 22 '^ — 
the shortest day of those regions, when the 
night lasts sixteen hours. It tells how Pearce 
had come to sit up with the invalids, but had 
been persuaded to retire to rest ; and it speaks 
of Badcock as dying. It contains expressions 
which would almost indicate that the mind of 
the writer was beginning to wander ; but, even 
amid confused perceptions, it shows that his 
faith in God was still clear and unclouded. 
The last words are : — 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 255 

" When I left Burslem on the mission, it 
was with a secret confidence I should see the 
salvation of God. 0, my soul hath beheld it ! 

* But the greatest trouble/ some would say, 

* is not over yet. You have but a week^s pro- 
vision more, even at the rate you are now liv- 
ing at, and no certain expectation of a vessels 
coming in that time !^ Yes, this is so ; but I 
have a certain and sure expectation of deliver- 
ance in that time. To-day is June 22 ; for I 
believe it is far advanced in the morning. 
We shall see. He that belie veth shall never 
be confounded. 

" Here I rest my hope. 
" The Lord's will be done.'' 

Captain Gardiner and Mr. Maidment con- 
tinued to lodge at the cavern, about a mile 
and a half from the mouth of Cook's Eiver, 
where the boat containing the rest of the party 
was moored. And though the distance was 
not great, so exhausted and weakened were 
they all, that they could not maintain a dayly 
communication. But on Saturday, June 28, 
Captain Gardiner visited the Speedwell; and 
in his own brief journal he writes : — 

" Found Mr. Williams and Badcock to-day 
very ill. Mr. Williams considers the latter 
beyond the hope of recovery. He is most 
patient, and leaning only upon his God. Mr. 



256 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Williams is certainly weaker than he has been 
during his long illness, and to-day spoke very 
incoherently. He was praying aloud when I 
reached the boat, for himself and his dying 
companion, committing themselves to God, 
and rejoicing in his faithfulness and truth. 
I have kept no record of the expressions which 
have fallen from him during my various visits 
to Cook^s Eiver ; but the invariable tenor of 
them has been entire resignation to the will 
of God, joy and peace in believing, and a firm 
trust in his Eedeemer, with the full assurance 
that all had and still would work together for 
the advancement of his eternal interests. On 
one occasion, ' that each day's experience had 
proved a blessing, that he felt that no one of 
his trials (and he had many) could have been 
spared, that he had no will of his own, but 
left all in the hand of his heavenly Father, 
and that he was willing to depart in any 
way that the Lord should see fit.' To-day 
he said, that * he only called upon God, on 
him alone he leaned, and that he was all to 
him.''^ 

At eleven o'clock on the same evening, John 
Badcock died. He requested Mr. Williams to 
join him in singing a hymn, and repeated the 
two hundred and second of Wesley's Collec- 
tion, beginning — 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 257 

" Arise, my soul, arise ; 

Shake off thy guilty fears ; 
The bleeding Sacrifice 
In my behalf appears : 
Before the throne my Surety stands, 
My name is written on his hands/^ 

He sang it through with a loud voice, and a 
few minutes afterward expired. 

Early in June the net, which had occasion- 
ally procured a few fishes, was carried away 
by the floating ice ; and on the 4th of July 
Captain Gardiner mentions, as all the provis- 
ions remaining in the cavern, ** half a duck, 
about a pound of salt pork, the same of dam- 
aged tea, a pint of rice, two cakes of chocolate^ 
and four pints of pease, to which I may add 
six mice/' From this time forward, to the 
end of their tragic history, they had little 
other subsistence besides mussels and limpets, 
and a species of gelatinous sea-weed. 

On Tuesday, July 22, Captain Gardiner 
writes : *' For six days we have had no inter- 
course with Cook's Eiver, on account of the 
weather. I was there this afternoon, and 
John Bryant, to our great surprise, came over 
to us, being anxious to know how we were. 
Poor fellow ! it is too great an exertion for 
him, although he says he feels better. Mr. 

Williams is wonderfully supported, both in 
17 



!258 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

body and mind. The Lord has been very- 
gracious to him. He is exceedingly weak, 
but has little pain, and says that he feels even 
better than he has done, although now reduced 
to subsist on mussels, which, to my great sur- 
prise, he is able to digest.^^ 

On Saturday, August 23, Joseph Erwin, the 
carpenter, died ; and the following Tuesday 
terminated the sufferings of another of the 
boatmen, John Bryant. Captain Gardiner 
Was now confined to his bed, and the fatigue 
of burying his two companions so exhausted 
Mr. Maidment, that he never rallied. On the 
6th of September, Captain Gardiner wrote a 
note, which never reached its destination, but 
was afterward found defaced by the weather : — 

'' My Dear Mr. Williams, — The Lord has 
seen fit to call home another of our little com- 
pany. Our dear departed brother left the 
boat on Tuesday afternoon, (Sept. 2,) and has 
not since returned. Doubtless he is in the 
presence of his Eedeemer, vfhom he served 
faithfully. Yet a little while, and though 
. . . .the Almighty to sing the praises .... 
throne. I neither hunger nor thirst, though 
five days without food. Your afi'ectionate 
brother in ... . 

*'Allen p. Gardiner." 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 259 

Meanwhile, it will be asked, what steps were 
taken elsewhere for the relief of the famished 
exiles ? As early as January, the Secretary 
of the Society had commenced his inquiries 
for a vessel to convey additional stores to the 
mission ; hut it was uniformly answered, that 
no vessel would imperil her insurance for so 
small a freight ; and it was not till the 6th 
of June that a vessel, advertised for April 21, 
actually set sail, carrying six months^ supplies 
by way of the Falkland Islands. S"or was 
any consternation created by the delay ; for, 
naturally enough, the office-bearers hoped that 
fish and game might be procured as abund- 
antly as Captain Gardiner seemed to expect ; 
and then there was the hope that the captain 
might have established a communication with 
his friends at Montevideo or East Falkland. 
However, when October arrived^ and the expe- 
dition had been gone for more than a year 
without any tidings returning, the worst fore- 
bodings began to be felt, and an application 
was made to the Admiralty to assist the So- 
ciety in the effort to reach its agents. Her 
Majesty^s ship Dido was then sailing for the 
Pacific, and instructions were instantly for- 
warded to her commander. Captain Morshead, 
to touch, if possible, at Picton Island, and 
inquire after the missionaries. 



260 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Simultaneously with this movement in En- 
gland, Samuel Lafone, Esq., of Montevideo, had 
commissioned a fast-sailing American pilot- 
boat to proceed to Picton Island, and render 
any assistance which the mission party might 
require. After a run of four weeks. Captain 
Smyley reached Banner Cove on the 21st of 
October ; but finding it painted on the rocks, 
*' Gone to Spaniard's Harbor,'^ he proceeded 
thither and arrived on the following day. He 
soon found a boat on the beach, and inside of 
it lay one person dead. There was a large 
scar on his head, and another on his neck, and 
a matress was thrown over him. The name 
** Pearce '^ was found on his frock, and there 
can be little doubt that he was the last sur- 
vivor of the party. The Indians, whose naked 
footprints were observed on the strand, had no 
doubt found him still alive^ and had murdered 
him ; and books, papers, medicine^ — everything 
which was of no value to the savages — were 
found scattered on the deck or strewn along 
the beach. On the shore was found a body 
completely washed to pieces, which must have 
been that of Mr. Williams, as his three com- 
panions had been already buried. Captain 
Smyley had barely time to bury it, when a 
violent gale arose, and drove him from his 
anchorage and out to sea. His little vessel 



SICKNESS AND FAMINE. 261 

being laden with the crew of a castaway Dan- 
ish barque, Captain Smyley could prosecute 
the search no further, but was forced to return 
to Montevideo. The report of this humane 
and right-hearted man concludes with the fol- 
lowing testimony : — 

'' I have never found in my life such Chris- 
tian fortitude, such patience, and bearings in 
my life as in these poor unfortunate men. 
They have never murmured even. They seem 
resigned. And Mr. Williams says, even in his 
worst distress, he would not swap his situation 
for, or with, any man in life. He is happy 
beyond expression. 

" They speak in their journals of going to 
the Falklands, but they found their boats not 
fit, and in fact they waited until all their pro- 
visions were gone, and they were taken with the 
scurvy so bad that it was impossible for them 
to go. They had no rest ; they were driven 
from place to place by the Indians, always in 
dread and fear. Add to these the stormy, 
dreary, long nights, with almost perpetual ice 
and snow ; and cooped up in a small boat, so 
laden that there was scarce room to move, 
without food, and with that terrible disease 
the scurvy ; and you can judge their situation 
partli/J' 

Unapprised of Captain Smyley's discovery, 



262 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

Captain Morsliead in the Dido reached these 
dangerous seas about the middle of January, 
1852, and prosecuted the search with the skill 
and energy of a British sailor, and with the 
solicitude of a Christian friend. He reached 
Spaniard's Harbor on the evening of January 
21, and immediately sent Lieutenant Pigott 
and Mr. Eoberts on shore. They found the 
bodies of Captain Gardiner and Mr. Maidment, 
and returned to the ship with a variety of 
books and papers. Next morning, amid 
threatening weather, Captain Morshead land- 
ed. Mr. Maidment's body lay in the cavern 
where he had so often spent the night, and in 
which the stores rescued from the Pioneer were 
kept. Outside on the rocks was painted, by 
way of direction to any visitor, a hand, and 
under it, " Psalm Ixii, 5-8.^' Captain Gardi- 
ner's body was lying beside the wreck of the 
Pioneer. It seemed that he had left his berth, 
but being too weak to climb into it again, he 
had died at the side of the boat. The remains 
were collected and buried ; the funeral service 
was read; an inscription was placed on the 
rocks ; three volleys of musketry were fired ; 
the ship's colors were struck half-mast high ; 
and having fulfilled her mournful commission, 
the Dido went on her way. 



CONCLUSION. 263 



€sulmm. 

When we look abroad on a world that is rent with woe, and bur- 
dened with the curse, how gladly ought we to turn to the prophetic 
picture of the same world, clothed with the verdure of righteousness 
and peace, love and joy 1 When we behold the wretched multitudes 
everywhere ground down by oppression, how cheering to think of 
the happy period when kings shall be the nursing-fathers and queens 
the nursing-mothers of their people — when justice will everywhere 
be seen holding up her even scales — and the genius of charity open- 
ing, on the most barbarous shores, new founts of blessing that shall 
never more be sealed ! — Dr. Duff. 

We never hear of a great catastrophe without 
seeing, or fancying that we see, how it might 
have been averted ; and it is a relief from the 
sharpness of sorrow to be allowed to criticise 
the conduct of others, and to point out the 
simple precautions which ought to have been 
adopted. In concluding the foregoing narra- 
tive, many will feel that this entire mission 
was sadly mismanaged. They will condemn 
the initial blunder which induced seven men, 
divided betwixt two little boats, to venture 
into seas so wild, and among savages so treach- 
erous ; and in such an expedition they will 
say that a strong ship, ably manned, was the 
true economy. They will lament the over- 
sanguine calculation which, for an imprison- 
ment of uncertain duration, provided supplies 



264 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

SO very limited ; and they will allege that it 
was not very prudent generalship, but a fool- 
hardy trust in the chapter of accidents, which, 
for its commissariat, drew on the uncaught 
fish and fowl of Fuegia, and the unpurchased 
beef of Montevideo, They will lift up their 
hands at the successive fatalities which left 
ammunition on ship-board, which lost the 
fishing-nets, and which, the very first day 
they were used, let the dingies go adrift. 
They will point out expedients which might 
from time to time have been tried with ad- 
vantage ; and, with the precedent of long 
voyages in whale-boats and wherries, they will 
wonder why the adventurers did not seek to 
escape in their launches to some more friendly 
shore. And, in the fair distribution of re- 
proof, they will blame the directors who al- 
lowed their agents to depart so scantily pro- 
vided, and who permitted nine months in- 
stead of six to elapse betwixt the sailing of the 
Ocean Queen and the dispatch of additional 
supplies. 

We do not deprecate discussion, and we 
are assured that the community eventually 
gains much from the freedom with which the 
proceedings of associations and ofiicial person- 
ages are reviewed by the organs of public 
opinion. And it is only candid to add that 



CONCLUSION. 265 

, we have felt in full force some of the regrets 
which have been expressed in regard to this 
Patagonian Mission. But it ought to be re- 
membered that the scanty equipment of the 
expedition was necessitated by the want of 
funds. None knew better than Captain Gar- 
diner the desirableness of a large sloop or 
brig ; but as this was utterly unattainable, he 
resolved to do his best wnth such launches as 
the Society could afford. And although an 
ample supply of provisions would have been a 
great security, the boats could scarcely carry 
more ; and believing that in the directors at 
home, in correspondents at Montevideo, and 
in the produce of the islands, he had three 
strings to his bow, the leader of the enter- 
prise again yielded to his too chivalrous anxi- 
ety to spare the funds of a Society whose treas- 
ury was low, and whose friends were few. On 
the other hand, to account for the disasters of 
Banner Cove and Lennox Harbor, we would 
need to exchange places with the devoted 
band, and imagine ourselves an inexperienced 
crew of seven persons, two of them mere 
landsmen, divided betwixt two vessels, con- 
tending with ceaseless tempests, drenched in 
rain, pierced with cold, disheartened by hun- 
ger and disease, and only left the wretched 
choice betwixt a coast swarming with canni- 



266 MEMOIR OF EICHARD WILLIAMS. 

bals, and " desolate places/' the domain of 
frost and hunger. And to account for the 
delay in forwarding supplies, we would need 
to exchange places with the oflBce-bearers, and 
repeat the desperate search for a conveyance 
made by men whose freight was no induce- 
ment to ships of any value, and who had not 
the means wherewith to charter a vessel of 
their own. 

But from all disputes about secondary causes, 
and from vain speculations about contingencies 
which cannot now be realized, the Christian 
will raise his thoughts to God who permitted 
the result, and overlooked none of the inter- 
vening incidents ; and, in a world which owes 
everything to the vicarious principle on which 
it is administered, he will try to ascertain the 
lessons taught by the sufferings and self-sacri- 
fice of these missionary martyrs. 

To every devout reader there must be con- 
firmation and encouragement in such a nar- 
rative as the one now concluded. Seldom have 
we met with a more striking example of \' com- 
fort in the wilderness/' and, after perusing 
the experience of Mr. Williams, no Christian 
need fear that his circumstances will be ever 
so forlorn, but that the Heavenly Comforter 
can still inspire him with a ^' joy unspeakable 
and full of glory.'' Illumed by an immortal 



CONCLUSION. 267 

prospect, the dreary cabin becomes " none other 
than the gate of heaven ;" and, cheered by a 
celestial Visitor, the long hours of an Antarctic 
night are never counted. Without a crust of 
bread, the spirit is regaled with *^ food such as 
angels eat ;^^ and, in a disease depressing be- 
yond most others, hope and exultation are the 
predominant emotions. And far from repent- 
ing tlieir own rashness, — further still from 
'^ charging God foolishly,^^ — they congratulate 
their lot, on being counted worthy to suffer 
for Christ^s sake ; and when, in their little 
hospital, the first death takes place, the good 
soldier asks his feeble comrade to join him in 
a hymn. 

Nor is it a small matter to find that the 
Saviour has still disciples who are willing not 
only to suffer, but to die for his sake. Last 
century produced no martyrs : but there is 
again faith in the earth ; and the convicts of 
Tuscany, the thousand exiles of Madeira, the 
slaughtered hundreds of Madagascar, " the 
martyr of Erromanga,^^ and the proto-evan- 
gelists of Fuegia, all show that there are many 
to whom Christ is so precious, that they are 
prepared to follow him to prison and to death. 

But, besides their lesson of self-devotion, 
have not these good confessors left to the 
Church a legacy of duty? Have not their 



268 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

writings, so remarkably preserved, come back 
from the ends of the earth, as a cry to go over 
and help these poor degraded Indians ? 

With the precedents, of New-Zealand and 
the South Sea Isles, there is nothing in the 
treachery, the barbarism, nor even the canni- 
balism of these Araucanians, to make a Chris- 
tian philanthropist despair; while, in their 
position as a possible inlet to the vast Indian 
populations of the mainland, there is a pow- 
erful inducement to early untiring effort. 

Nor should we omit a subordinate and selfish 
reason for attempting to evangelize these 
islanders and their Patagonian neighbors. 
Within the last five years the Straits of Magel- 
lan and the ocean highway round Cape Horn 
have been traversed by an unprecedented 
amount of shipping ; and, as long as this con- 
tinues the main route to San Francisco, the 
traffic through these seas is likely to increase. 
In such a dangerous navigation we need not 
say what casualties are likely to occur; but 
woe betide the ship's company which is thrown 
into the hands of these savages ! Last winter 
the ship Porcupine, of Liverpool, was passing 
through fche Straits of Magellan on her way 
to California, when she grounded. Next 
morning she was surrounded by numerous 
canoes, full of natives, carrying lighted pine- 



CONCLUSION. 269 

"branches, who endeavored to set the ship on 
fire ; and it was not till after a desperate con- 
flict, in which two emigrants were killed and 
others severely wounded, that the assailants 
were repulsed, and the disabled vessel was 
floated off and worked back to the Falklands. 
And it is only five or six years ago when the 
captain and crew of the brig Avmi were mur- 
dered by the same barbarians, and two English 
gentlemen, whom they had inveigled ashore, 
were carried off and put to death, and their 
bodies, it is believed, were devoured."' Similar 
casualties are too certain to recur; and even 
although the governments of England and 
America should send war-steamers to the sta-* 
tion, they cannot be ubiquitous ; and, on the 
coercive system, nothing short of an extirpa- 
tion of the wretched natives can secure the 
castaway from the knife of the cannibal. How 
much better — how much more worthy of a 
Christian country, and how much cheaper — to. 
reclaim and civilize them ! This the mission- 
ary, with God's blessing, alone can accomplish ; 
but the same agency which, all through the 
Southern Archipelago, has secured for the 

"= The dangers of a detention on these coasts are vividly 
described in a rough but romantic book : " The Captive 
in Patagonia; or, Life among the Giants. By Benjamin 
Franklin Bourne.^^ Boston : Gould and Lincoln. 



270 MEMOIR OF RICHARD WILLIAMS. 

merchant and whaler depots of provisions and 
refitting stations, and the assistance of clever 
mechanics, where formerly the war-club was 
his only welcome, — this agency may soon stud 
with gardens and farms and industrious vil- 
lages these inhospitable shores. The church- 
going bell may awaken these silent forests; 
and, round its cheerful hearth and kind teach- 
ers, the Sunday school may assemble the now 
joyless children of Navarin Island. The 
mariner may run his battered ship into Len- 
nox Harbor, and leave her to the care of 
Fuegian caulkers and carpenters ; and . after 
rambling through the streets of a thriving 
seaport town, he may turn aside to read the 
papers in the Gardiner Institution, or may step 
into the week-evening service in the Eichard 
Williams Chapel. When that day arrives, a 
grateful population will survey Cook's River 
and Pioneer Cove, if not with emotions as 
sacred as those with which our Old- World 
pilgrims visit St. Paul's Bay in Malta, and the 
Grotto in Patmos, at least with feelings as 
tender as the Christian Briton has often con- 
fessed on the rocks of Lindisfarn, and among 
the ruins of lona. 

THE END. 



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Friendships of the BUhle. 

The Friendships of the Bible. By Amicus. Embellished 
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gilt edges, 25 cents. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservatioiiTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Town?h,n Phmn^^ 
(724)779-211^ 



